DreamfinderGuy
Well-Known Member
Even in it’s postdemolished state it’s better than NBAE
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NBA Experience at Disney Springs
- Thread starter CTXRover
- Start date
eddie104
Well-Known Member
That’s your opinion which is fine but I was speaking in general.
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
Defending DQ to knock the NBAE is an interesting way to go. DQ was an outdated, falling apart, piece of garbage at the end. How quickly we forget. Not liking NBAE doesn’t change that.
kwoodfan1
Active Member
Agree. DQ was done.
I agree DQ needed an update but I actually enjoyed the raft ride. I will go to the NBAE once but probably won't like it, so I believe I would rather have had DQ stay than be replaced by NBAE. Now if they had replaced DQ with a Broadway quality theater and show Disney on Broadway plays I would have loved it. I have loved all the Disney on Broadway plays I have seen with Aladdin bring my favorite.
JenniferS
When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
Oh man, in its day, that place was awesome.
And then it just became a sad, hollow version of its former glory. I still feel bad.
JenniferS
When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
Mike finally stumbled upon NBAE on Twitter. If anyone were the intended audience, it would have been him. (Huge NBA fan, high school basketball coach for three decades, pays big bucks on training DVD’s and to attend coaching clinics ....)
His two words, “not interested”.
For the record, I was never interested, but I really thought he might be keen. He’s not. Doesn’t mean that others won’t be. Time will tell.
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
For what it's worth, my 12 y/o sister can't stop talking about this place and because of her we dropped over $100 at the NBA Experience. And guess what? We had a good time. Imagine that.
Full Disclosure: My sister plays AAU basketball, so she's definitely in the target demographic, but even outside of the actual Experience, the store was packed with people buying a decent amount. With all of the AAU tournaments that Disney holds at WWoS and the athletes that those in turn bring in, this place will likely see a ton of business from those types of things.
Full Disclosure: My sister plays AAU basketball, so she's definitely in the target demographic, but even outside of the actual Experience, the store was packed with people buying a decent amount. With all of the AAU tournaments that Disney holds at WWoS and the athletes that those in turn bring in, this place will likely see a ton of business from those types of things.
JenniferS
When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
Excellent.
Few of us actually want it to fail, even if it’s not our cup of tea. We’ll visit the store for sure.
When we use the word "bust" in 5 years, this will be what we associate with the word. Who in their right mind would pay money for this? Talk about a total rip-off. I can dribble and shoot in my driveway. I can even lower my goal to seven feet so that I can dunk. I'm a basketball fan, and thought this was going to be pretty cool, but the word that best describes it is straight up "CORNY". I wouldn't go in this place if it were free. And this type of place would have been great for locals to flock to, but NO ONE will go to this from around Orlando once they hear about it. It's a really bad tourist trap.
Oh man, in its day, that place was awesome.
And then it just became a sad, hollow version of its former glory. I still feel bad.
Unfortunately it's day was long before I ever saw it. Our first trip to WDW was 2008 and it was already rundown and outdated then.
RobWDW1971
Well-Known Member
I honestly don't even think it's a tourist trap. It doesn't even have the energy and fun of an ESPN Zone or Dave & Busters - this is just...odd. And you have to pay admission to get in for every person in a family? Nope. It's a little like the Mickey Instagram thing they tried at Disneyland - tourists can be easy marks, but you have to at least try a little.
For me it's not whether I'm interested or not.
They needed to do something with this space. The NBA stepped up with the money and idea. Not Disney, the NBA.
The fact is that the outside of this building looks fantastic. It's a real attention grabber. It fits with the DS theme and atmosphere. People who aren't influenced by the WDW Magic negativity squad will walk by this place and say wow that looks cool even if they have no interest. It's a cool looking attention grabbing building...period.
If it was hockey or baseball it would be a must do for me. Basketball isn't something a follow closely, but whatever, the place still looks cool.
Will I try the experience itself? Not sure. When my son was a teenager we would have for sure. He's grown up now and it's just DW and I on these trips. I probably won't make her sit around and watch me shoot hoops, so it's unlikely we will try the experience itself.
However, I'm excited to see it, it looks cool. We will definately eat in the restaurant and watch a hockey game in the sports bar. I personally hope it's a huge success even though I would have picked a different sport.
Now back to your regularly scheduled hating.
it does look great from the outside. But the actual experience is a joke. The unsuspecting tourist will walk past and think it looks cool, and hey they probably like sports, so why not? Yeah they are gonna walk out of there feeling like they got ripped off...bigtime. And I don't care that this is an NBA thing, the consumer will feel like Disney is the one ripping them off here. It's total junk. I think this will totally fail within a few very short years. Hope the bar and restaurant do well though.
Kman101
Well-Known Member
It's not good. I like a lot of the merchandise, though, lol. But overall ... yeah. This was the mistake a lot of us had been decrying it was for a while now. Definitely feels a bit budget cut as well and the offerings? I think they're lame and I like basketball (though I'm hardly a huge fan, I do enjoy playing it)
A Disney owned ESPN SportsZone would have worked better. But I guess the ESPN club/restaurant brand thing is dead, but still ... or just make it one big restaurant/bar like NBC Grill and Brew.
CityWorks will help, probably.
The exterior is nice enough but sticks out to me even on the West Side.
Meh overall.
I think two of the biggest things to miss the mark, for me, in all of the new Disney Springs, were Planet Hollywood Observatory and NBA Experience.
DisneyJayL
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
The West Side as a whole isn’t really appealing. The NBA thing is just a need to fill a void. Which void? No idea.
ChrisFL
Premium Member
From @OrlParkNews on Twitter:
From Sept. 15 to Dec. 31, Walt Disney World Resort Cast Members and their friends and family can enjoy complimentary admission to the NBA Experience at Disney Springs
How generous, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with lower than expected crowds or anything
From Sept. 15 to Dec. 31, Walt Disney World Resort Cast Members and their friends and family can enjoy complimentary admission to the NBA Experience at Disney Springs
How generous, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with lower than expected crowds or anything
DisneyNorthFan
Active Member
I wish that instead of/in addition to the free cast member entry, they'd add the NBA experience as an option for your park hopper plus ticket ... or even just a free bonus ticket with your vacation package (like they do with mini-golf).