DisneyQuest

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Disney theme park
DisneyQuest
Location Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA
Opening Day May 22, 1998
Resort Walt Disney World Resort
Theme Indoor Amusement Park
Website DisneyQuest Homepage
Operator The Walt Disney Company

DisneyQuest is an "indoor interactive theme park" located in Downtown Disney at the Walt Disney World Resort. DisneyQuest is housed in a five-story windowless building; guests enter the first-floor lobby and are brought via elevator to the third floor atrium as the start of their visit..

DisneyQuest contains several virtual reality attractions, classic and recent arcade video games, web terminals, and a Cheesecake Factory cafe. It is popular with locals, who can get an annual pass for less than the cost of three daily admissions.


Contents

[edit] Background

The DisneyQuest project was designed as a way for the Disney brand to reach populations who may not have the chance to travel to its various theme park destinations. It was meant to target large cities and urban areas. Had the project continued, Disney had plans to construct locations in many major cities in the United States.

The second DisneyQuest was built and opened in Chicago, but it was permanently closed on September 4, 2001 due to low attendance. After the failure of DisneyQuest Chicago, the DisneyQuest project was officially brought to an end. Construction that had begun on a DisneyQuest in Philadelphia was scrapped, and a DisneyQuest at Disneyland Resort in California never proceeded past the planning stage. Disney announced another location to be built in downtown Toronto, Canada (at the Dundas Square inside the new high tech mall Metropolis), but the project was also canceled.

After the closure of the overall project and the Chicago location, Disney Regional Entertainment, which operated DisneyQuest, turned over control of the remaining location to Walt Disney World operations.

[edit] Design

The locations were to be moderately identical concerning layout and attractions. This was so the various locations could contribute financially to new attraction designs (which cost in the range of several million USD), thereby reducing the cost that each location has to foot itself.

The attractions at DisneyQuest are of a modular design, so that they could be easily replaced and updated. Originally, the idea was that no attraction would ever go unchanged for more than two or three years. However, after the Chicago location and the DisneyQuest project overall were closed, the one location in Florida has been unable to financially merit a complete attraction overhaul.

The only time an attraction has been changed out was in preparation for the opening of DisneyQuest Chicago. An attraction based on the Disney version of Hercules was replaced with Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold.

[edit] Mascot

The Genie from Aladdin is an unofficial mascot of DisneyQuest. Upon entering at ground level, one is brought by an elevator (here called a "cybrolator," containing a short animation of Genie welcoming you) up to the center of the third floor (the "Ventureport"), where one's visit begins. He is also heard on the end-of-day closing announcements.

[edit] Attractions

[edit] First floor

  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold: Man a pirate ship and destroy other ships, sea monsters, and fortresses to collect gold. One player captains the ship by steering and controlling the throttle, while up to four gunners control the cannons.
  • Virtual Jungle Cruise: Paddle an inflatable raft (with real paddles) as you make your way down a prehistoric river, avoiding dinosaurs and occasionally getting sprayed with water.

[edit] Second floor

One station of Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride
One station of Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride
  • CyberSpace Mountain: Guests design a rollercoaster on a design kiosk, then sit in a pitch-and-roll simulator and "ride" it. Guests may also ride pre-built coasters.
  • Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride: Players wear an HMD as they ride a magic carpet through Agrabah, collecting gems to find The Genie, who has been hidden away in the Cave of Wonders.
  • Animation Academy: Regular sessions throughout the day teach how to draw characters, with lightpens on computer screens. For a fee, a guest can purchase a printout afterwards.
  • Sid's Create-a-Toy: A program featuring the evil Sid character from Toy Story that allows one to custom design a toy out of parts of other toys.
  • Living Easels: An interactive touch screen program where guests can place various images onto several selectable backgrounds. A full-color printout of a guest's design may be purchased.

[edit] Third floor

  • Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam: Players "become" a pinball in a gigantic projected pinball game; by rocking their "duck" back and forth, up to twelve players at at a time control their corresponding pinball on the screen, attempting to collect the most points.
  • Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlaster: Players board bumper cars and attempt to navigate over foam balls ("asteroids") on the floor. By doing so, the asteroids will be sucked up into the cabin where players can then load them into a cannon and shoot at the other cars. If hit in the correct spot, one's car may spin around uncontrollably for ten seconds. Usually there are two players to a car; however, it is possible for one person to pilot and shoot at the same time.

[edit] Fourth floor

  • Ride the Comix 4: Players wear an HMD to "enter the comic book world." Players battle with super villains by using a laser sword. Up to six players can be on a team at a time.

[edit] Fifth floor

  • Ride the Comix 5: Players wear an HMD to "enter the comic book world." Players battle with super villains by using a laser sword. Up to six players can be on a team at a time. (This attraction is identical on both the 4th and 5th floor)
  • Invasion! An ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter: Four players ride inside a rescue vehicle to save astronauts: one player drives, the other three shoot enemy aliens. Based on the now-extinct Magic Kingdom attraction, ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter.

[edit] FoodQuest

DisneyQuest features two restaurants. On the fourth floor, the Wonderland Cafe features desserts and drinks along with computers with free internet access at most tables. On the fifth floor, a Cheesecake Factory Express serves burgers, pizza, and paninis.

[edit] Removed attractions

  • The corkscrew "Cave of Wonders Slide", 150 feet (46m) long, took guests from the third floor to the first. It was closed in DisneyQuest's first year of operation.
  • In "Treasure of the Incas", players could drive small remote-control toy trucks through a maze in search of treasure. Along a wall were stations with a steering wheel and a video screen by which to drive the truck; the floor of the room was clear plastic through which friends could see the trucks driving around so that they could shout directions to the driver. This attraction was plagued by interference from emerging technologies such as cell phones, and was finally closed after one of the vehicles caught fire. The clear flooring and mazes can still be seen near the Virtual Jungle Cruise area, adjacent to the Safari hunting games.
  • At "Magic Mirrors", once located on the second floor in the Create Zone, guests could take a picture of themselves and then edit their faces to appear like cartoons. The attraction closed in 2005 and has since been converted to seating.
  • "Hercules" was a team game where 6 guests would each control their own character from Disney's Hercules with a joystick. The object of the game was to collect lightning bolts and defeat Hades. This attraction was replaced with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold".

[edit] Other games

[edit] Price

Except for prize-play (claw) machines, all games and attractions inside DisneyQuest are free after admission is paid (US $30-$36). Depending on daily attendance levels, late-night tickets are sometimes sold for half-price two hours prior to closing each night.

When DisneyQuest was first opened it had a lower admission fee but each attraction and game required a player to swipe a card to pay "credits" for it, and the card could be "recharged" by putting it and some money into a recharging station, similar to Dave & Buster's gaming restaurants. This was greatly unpopular with parents, however, who didn't like that there was nothing to do once they stopped spending money recharging the cards, so DisneyQuest moved to a single flat fee for entry. The old card swipe consoles can still be found on many of the attractions, even though they now have little or no purpose.

On the fourth floor, there used to be a redemption area that would cost extra ("Midway on the Moon"). Players could exchange tickets won at games of skill for various prizes. However, in late 2005, the games were converted to free play and no longer dispense tickets.

[edit] Attraction facts

[edit] References

    [edit] External link

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