News Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom closing Jan 24th 2021

[pdude81]

This is a huge bummer. Something that didn't really bother many who weren't using it, but gave another fun option for people who go more regularly. I could certainly see them shutting it down due to issues with groups waiting too close together, but killing it straight out is rough.

For those who wish it to stay, it seems there is at least one Change.org petition for keeping it around.

https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-d...f-the-magic-kingdom-game-at-walt-disney-world

 

[JoeCamel]

They could have waited til 2/22 to close it..... No soul left any longer

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

Good riddance. I’m sorry if you enjoyed it but holding up cards to a screen to watch a flash animation is lame.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

Never played it but it just seems like an odd thing to get rid of. If its a COVID social distancing reason then I get it. Doesn't seem like a major maintenance problem or required staff to operate. Just another thing to strip away.

 

[Kevin_W]

Good riddance. I’m sorry if you enjoyed it but holding up cards to a screen to watch a flash animation is lame.

But for people like you that don't like it... you don't have to play. For others it was a nice diversion. The Pirate game and Perry's are much better done, though.

It definitely seems to have lost popularity. 6 years ago you would see/hear people around the portals constantly. Now it's pretty rare. A lot of that is probably because they never updated the game or the graphics (and we've come a ways in 8 years in those regards).

My biggest complaint was that there were always 2 missions that asked you to show the back of the card to the camera. The whole reason my daughter wanted to play was to pick her favorite card and use it/see the animation. She wasn't interested in the story particularly. Giving you collectible cards and then having you not use them a significant portion of the game seemed an odd design choice.

 

[Joel]

So by "closing on the 24th", does that mean it will still be running that day, or is the last day the 23rd?

 

[JoeCamel]

It definitely seems to have lost popularity. 6 years ago you would see/hear people around the portals constantly. Now it's pretty rare. A lot of that is probably because they never updated the game or the graphics (and we've come a ways in 8 years in those regards).

They laid off/reassigned the people that developed the game. They can add party animations but that is about it and it has needed quite a bit of maintenance over the years. I imagine at 9 years the platform it is built on is not up to the task any longer, it was not robust to begin with.

My biggest complaint was that there were always 2 missions that asked you to show the back of the card to the camera. The whole reason my daughter wanted to play was to pick her favorite card and use it/see the animation. She wasn't interested in the story particularly. Giving you collectible cards and then having you not use them a significant portion of the game seemed an odd design choice.

The back of the card one will just time out unless there is a snag in the game, usually slow communication pulling up your data

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

But for people like you that don't like it... you don't have to play. For others it was a nice diversion. The Pirate game and Perry's are much better done, though.

It definitely seems to have lost popularity. 6 years ago you would see/hear people around the portals constantly. Now it's pretty rare. A lot of that is probably because they never updated the game or the graphics (and we've come a ways in 8 years in those regards).

My biggest complaint was that there were always 2 missions that asked you to show the back of the card to the camera. The whole reason my daughter wanted to play was to pick her favorite card and use it/see the animation. She wasn't interested in the story particularly. Giving you collectible cards and then having you not use them a significant portion of the game seemed an odd design choice.

Fair enough. I still wasn’t a fan of a lot of the screen placements, particularly the one next to PotC.

 

[networkpro]

Never played it but it just seems like an odd thing to get rid of. If its a COVID social distancing reason then I get it. Doesn't seem like a major maintenance problem or required staff to operate. Just another thing to strip away.

There was one main fellow who we always saw maintaining/troubleshooting the portals over the last few years who might have been reassigned/ or worse. They moved the servers hosting the logic to a CA DC a few years ago and that was painful as they would time out for about a week. They might have decided not to refresh the hardware (typical server hardware these days only has a shelf life of ~ 24 months before it becomes unsupported).

 

[ppete1975]

Assumed this was coming once the Play Disney Parks app came out. Still, interactive areas in the theme parks is a great idea that Disney should be embracing more.

and stuff that kids can do without the phone, we need to get people more engaged with the world around them, not whats on their phone screen... Sad to see this go

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

There was one main fellow who we always saw maintaining/troubleshooting the portals over the last few years who might have been reassigned/ or worse. They moved the servers hosting the logic to a CA DC a few years ago and that was painful as they would time out for about a week. They might have decided not to refresh the hardware (typical server hardware these days only has a shelf life of ~ 24 months before it becomes unsupported).

That makes sense. All comes back to money unfortunately. Shame. Hopefully that troubleshooter is still employed.

 

[Sundown]

I'm so very sad. This is a terrific attraction/experience at the Magic Kingdom.

The best part to me was it taking you to the often overlooked / quickly walked by areas of the Magic Kingdom. I loved seeing the details of these areas.

This is tough news. Sorry to those of us who enjoy this attraction.

 

[tirian]

Sorcerer’s and Pirates were fun diversions that gave the MK a broader sense of “place” and “discovery.” I’m sorry to see them go.

 

[TJJohn12]

I was really looking forward to doing this with my sons when they got a little older. We collected a full set back in 2012 and have been eBaying the holiday event cards annually.

This one hurts.

Same exact boat here. My wife is obsessed with the game and she kinda dragged me into that obsession. We'd spend a couple hours in the Kingdom playing each trip. And she'd usually devote half her solo day of a visit to playing the game and snacking around the park. I was so proud of her when she beat the game on medium on our last trip.

We were looking forward to introducing our 2-year-old to the game when we go next after COVID is over. This cuts deep.

 

[zero creativity]

We played it a couple of times, the kids were never that into it. But they loved Kim Possible and Phineas and Ferb. They also always play magic quest at Great Wolf Lodge. It makes me wonder if they will replace it with an app based game or make something you have to pay for like the wands at Great Wolf.

 

[Po'Rich]

This is too bad. I remember playing the game with my son during our first visit to the park. While my daughter's big enjoyment from that trip was meeting characters, my son's was really playing the game.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

May as well board up the fire station now.

 

[WondersOfLife]

It would be nice if they implement all of the screens and such as occasional “pop up” stuff for each area. Like possibly the Merlin next to Pirates turning into a skull video saying something like “those who dare venture to deadman’s cove...” ect.

Would be a fun little Easter eggs to happen maybe once every 20 minutes or so. Plus, those technology sections wouldn’t go to waste.

 

[RSoxNo1]

The Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom interactive game will close on the 24th. This has been targeted for removal for a while, and I am under the impression that ops complaints of portals blocking potential extended queue areas played a role in expediting its closure.

Will the 24th be the last day or the 23rd?

 

[dreamfinder912]

this is a huge let down. i get the crowding issue, but there's no reason it can't be updated and brought back "after." this game is how my now spouse and i first really bonded at disney. we live here, and he's a huge tabletop gamer and getting me out of a theme park every weekend literally took a pandemic. SOTMK introduced me to deck building games, and him to the actual fun you can have wandering a theme park.