Wouldn’t it be nice to take a break from the ordinary and escape to Disneyland or Walt Disney World? To sail with pirates, face extraterrorestrial alien creatures, and blast baddies with Buzz Lightyear? The fun, the energy, and the enthusiasm around Disney Parks are priceless. But the flight… the rental car… the tickets… let’s just say, they’re anything but priceless.
That’s why, in the mid-1990s, Disney executives began to toy with a radical idea… what if every major city in the United States – no, the world! – could host its own Disney theme park? But forget castles, or dark rides, or roller coasters… This 21st century theme park would be all about you as never before… an indoor, interactive adventure showcasing the newest technologies and Disney’s flashiest storytelling in a compelling, ever-changing family entertainment center.
Here at Theme Park Tourist, our Declassified Disasters series has the unfortunate job of recording the in-depth histories of Disney’s (rare and often radical) failures. We’ve told the full, detailed, can’t-miss tales behind such epic flubs as Superstar Limo, the Rocket Rods, Walt Disney Studios Park, Journey into YOUR Imagination, the despised Stitch’s Great Escape, and so many more.
And today, we turn to a disastrous Disney experience that’s unlike all the others in its scope and scale. DisneyQuest wasn’t just an oversized Disney arcade abandoned and left to rot; it was also a 21st century experiment in mass-producing theme park experiences taken down by time. Today, we’ll check in on this unusual concept from design to destruction and relive the memories – good and bad – produced by this exceptionally odd project.
1970s – Shopper’s paradise
Image: Disney
The story begins in the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village, which opened on March 22, 1975 – just a few years after Walt Disney World itself. While the name might not sound too awfully familiar, the concept should. Lake Buena Vista was a one-stop shop for souvenirs, gifts, and toys during your Walt Disney World visit – a charming lakeside village with shops like the Pottery Chalet, Toys Fantastique, and The Flower Garden.
The concept of the Shopping Village was really intended to act as the main local commerce area for residents of the planned Lake Buena Vista residential area.
Image: Disney
What’s more, Peoplemovers would’ve connected the nearby neighborhood to its commercial Shopping Village, where residents might then board a Monorail and sail off to other Walt Disney World destinations.
While the shopping district opened in 1975, the accompanying residential area (and the mass transit systems that would’ve connected them) were delayed by the announcement of EPCOT Center. Even after the park’s opening, Disney’s finances were exhausted, leaving the Lake Buena Vista residential area undeveloped. Now, Disney had a full-fledged shopping district more or less disconnected from the resort proper.
Image: Disney
Accessible only by car or bus, Disney gradually experimented with how to convince Walt Disney World guests to make their way to the retail area. For that reason, the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village was renamed the Walt Disney World Village in 1977.
1980s and ‘90s – A new vision
Fast-forward to the 1980s and new Disney chairman Michael Eisner, who brought with him a very fresh vision for Disney and its theme parks. With a long career in the film industry (most recently, as CEO of Paramount Pictures), Eisner charted a new path forward for Disney and the themed entertainment industry – the “Ride the Movies” era we chronicled in a standalone industry insider feature, BLOCKBUSTER: The Ride. Eisner put his cinematic touch to work in the parks and at the Walt Disney World Village shopping area where he saw a massive opportunity…
In 1986, the existing shopping village was renamed Disney Village Marketplace and soon gained a much trendier neighbor: a modern new concept meant to rival Church Street Station and other “young adult” clubs gaining traction in Orlando.
Pleasure Island opened May 1, 1989 (the same day as the similarly-cinematic Disney-MGM Studios). Layered in the same decadent storytelling and placemaking as the rest of the “Ride the Movies” era, Pleasure Island was packed with nightclubs, bars, comedy clubs, and other adult-oriented – but highly themed – attractions, perhaps best exemplified by the Lost Legend: The Adventurers Club.
Image: Disney
Ah, but here’s where things will start to sound familiar… These two neighboring districts lacked a cohesive or attractive messaging explaining their relationship… until 1995, when the Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island were “combined” to create the newly branded Downtown Disney. The move was a smart one, offering a simplified message, marketing, and connection to the resort… even if a physical connection still wasn’t provided via Monorail or Peoplemover.
As you can imagine, the shifting histories of Walt Disney World’s shopping district could be the subject of a doctoral dissertation, but for our purposes, the story kicks into high gear now…
While the presses were still hot printing Downtown Disney advertisements, Disney announced a third “district” to join the Marketplace and Pleasure Island: Downtown Disney’s West Side would open in 1997. That’s where Disney would host its most conceptually ambitious idea since EPCOT Center…
Behind-the-box
Maybe in some ways, Downtown Disney was the perfect embodiment of Walt Disney World as a whole – dissimilar parts built in different decades, each reflecting the architecture, values, impressions, and purpose of its respective era. Think about it…
- The Marketplace – largely left from the 1970s – was still at its core a quaint village of shops and restaurants that looked and felt much like the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village two decades before…
- Pleasure Island – rooted in the same ’80s ideology that built the Disney-MGM Studios – was a brave and cinematic expansion of deeply-themed clubs that only Disney could’ve concocted.
- And now, the ’90s-born West Side would be a glowing icon of ’90s entertainment; a larger-than-life collection of oddball architecture. branded entertainment, and family attractions…
The radical new entertainment playground would feature mainstays of the era, like a grungy, rusted warehouse-style House of Blues, a custom-built modern white big top for Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba, a must-visit Virgin Megastore (to purchase a compact disc or cassette for the flight home, no doubt), and a Planet Hollywood restaurant, packed with celebrity memorobilia. Kitschy, comic, and cool, the West Side felt like the perfect ’90s interpretation of what a “Downtown” Disney World would feel like – a master-planned expansion that looked, felt, and sounded like the era.
It’s also where Disney would test out its most radical concept in a decade.
Housed inside of a towering and mysterious, asymmetrical blue building was DisneyQuest, a brand new kind of themed entertainment experience.
Entirely overseen and operated by a new division of the Walt Disney Company called Disney Regional Entertainment, DisneyQuest was billed as an “indoor, interactive theme park.”
Image: Disney
Perhaps you’d agree that that’s a vague and unusual way to describe an experience, and that – it would seem – was the point. After all, a generation of ’80s and ’90s kids grew up gazing in awe at the unusual landmark reigning over Downtown Disney, wondering what could be inside that most unusual building… What’s in there? What is DisneyQuest?
Well, that was the question… Almost certainly, DisneyQuest was one of the most peculiar concepts ever dreamed up at Imagineering – and with a powerful reason for being. But this innovative, exceptional concept also stands among our Declassified Disasters for a reason…
Not what, but why?
Image: Disney
Gargantuan… glittering… mysterious…
Looming over Downtown Disney’s West Side, the unusual blue box of DisneyQuest was indeed a wonder. And when it opened on June 19, 1998, what it contained within was just as surprising. In fact, the contents of that unusual cube were more than just an attraction; they were a prototype of the future of Disney entertainment, with Senior Vice President of New Product Development at Imagineering Joe DiNunzio leading the charge.
“Disney, in its park division, builds these giant things, but it takes a continent or half a continent to support each one,” said Joe Garlington, interactive creative director for DisneyQuest. “And that means if you’re not above a certain level of affluence, you may not be able to see it, or may not be able to see it very frequently — may have to save up for half a lifetime to go to one of the parks if you live in Boise or Chicago or someplace where you’re not near a park.”
But with DisneyQuest – the anchor of a new division called Disney Regional Entertainment – Disney could indeed bring that experience to Boise, or Chicago, or Columbus, or Atlanta, or Indianapolis, or Philadelphia, or New York… The secret? Imagineering’s cutting-edge VR Studio. This team of 15 – 25 artists and technicians was all but assigned DisneyQuest with the idea of empowering this regional family attraction with cutting edge – and easily swappable – tech-based attractions.
So to give us an idea of exactly what the experience was like, we’re going to step into DisneyQuest as it appeared there in its earliest years. Ready to step inside? We’ll take the first steps on the next page…
What’s inside…?
First things first, and we have to get the unpleasantenss out of the way… You might not know exactly what DisneyQuest is, but to find out, you’ll need to pay. (Disney would end up tinkering throughout the attraction’s life to find out exactly what it was worth to the average vacationer, at times trying pay-per-experience [with reloadable cards] or one-price ticketing, alternatively combining DisneyQuest access with the “Water Park & More” ticketing add-on [with DisneyQuest being the “More”], then including it with Annual Passes as well.)
Image: D. Judson Hindes, The Mouse for Less
Already, the ticketing lobby gives a certain impression of the attraction’s style. There’s no denying, it’s a product of the 1990s… the comical styling, exaggerated proportions, plastic textures, and faux golden busts of modern Disney characters look just right for Downtown Disney’s West Side, 1998. In other words, so far so good for you and I as we visit in the opening years. (Two decades later? Meh… we’ll get there soon…)
Now we get to the fun part.
Image: Disney
DisneyQuest is five floors of interactive fun, but just as Magic Kingdom’s “hub and spokes” layout pulses all guests to the park’s center to radiate out into themed lands, DisneyQuest is comprised of four interactive Zones all connected to the Ventureport. And the only way to this Ventureport? Straight up in one of DisneyQuest’s Cybrolators.
These elevators are built to shuttle guests from the outside world into the heart of DisneyQuest, located on the third floor of the building. Once on-board, the electricity shortcircuits as projections turn our elevator into a skyward ride with the Genie from Aladdin (voiced again by Robin Williams). As the elevator slows, LED stars flash inside the cabin and the doors part, opening into Ventureport.
It’s a sight to behold, with the enormous chamber multiple stories tall, ringed with balconies and excited guests journeying through DisneyQuest’s areas: Create Zone, Explore Zone, Replay Zone, and Score Zone. Bridges called Gateways branch off of Ventureport leading to each of the four Zones. From there, guests will scale up and down through the levels, exploring each Zone’s share of DisneyQuest’s 100,000 square feet and 5 stories.
1. Replay Zone
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
Standing beneath the cartoon observatory of Ventureport, a Gateway bridge connects to the Replay Zone, with a set of spiral stairs leading down into the realm. While two stories of the Replay Zone are filled with classic, throwback arcade consoles, the Replay Zone’s most noteworthy attraction is a “ride” you won’t find in any other Disney Park.
Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters is an unusual attraction, a bit like a clunky bumper car mixed with a game of dodge ball, with two guests seated in plexiglass-enclosed vehicles that can bump and ricochet across a bumper car course littered with silver balls. Driving over a ball picks it up and arms an on-board Asteroid Blaster so that the passenger can shoot the ball at other vehicles. Hitting targets causes the vehicles to lose control, spinning as their interior lights flash. Perhaps a video is the best way of seeing the ride in action.
2. Score Zone
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
The Score Zone is ostensibly themed to a superhero city with bright, action-packed decor. Of course, you’ll have to remember that Disney doesn’t have the rights to any of those big-name super heroes. DC’s heroes (like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman) are owned by Time Warner and thus licensed exclusively to their Six Flags parks; Marvel, meanwhile, just signed a huge contract with Disney’s competitor, Universal, giving them exclusive rights to the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, and Spider-Man east of the Mississippi River, all to power their new park and its headlining Modern Marvel: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.
As a result, DisneyQuest’s heroes for the Score Zone were all designed in-house, though they’re believable enough to make you imagine they could have their own comic book series.
Image: Dave Pape, Flickr (license)
One of the Zone’s highlights has to be Ride the Comix, a truly cutting-edge Virtual Reality (VR) experience where we get to put on unimaginable VR headsets to find ourselves suddenly looking into a digital superhero world. Armed with a laser sword, this unthinkable experience is stunning and unbelievable. Who could’ve ever thought that this technology would exist, much less that you could hold it in your own hands and try it!
“The idea at DisneyQuest was to use absolutely cutting-edge technology and hide it as deeply as possible,” said Larry Gertz, the executive show producer for DisneyQuest. In other words, Disney’s attempt was to mask the cutting-edge technology powering DisneyQuest’s experiences.
Image: WillMcC, Wikimedia Commons (license)
The other headliner might seem an odd fit, but Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam is still fun to watch. In this live-action game, players standing on pucks lean and manipulate their tiltable platform to move a corresponding “pinball” on a digital screen, aiming to earn points and bounce fellow “pinballs” around the board. Admittedly fairly unintelligible, the game is perhaps best understood by seeing a video, here.
On the very top floor of the Score Zone is also where you’ll find INVASION!: An ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter.
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
Another immersive attraction casts us as defenders, rescuing colonists from the threat of a bloodthirsy alien race. The digital animation that powers this attraction looks a few steps ahead of the graphics we’re using to on our PlayStations at home, and that’s impressive enough! For Disney fans, though, the real draw to this attraction is its connection to a fan-favorite Lost Legend: The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. In that in-depth feature, we chronicled the full story and experience of Disney’s scariest attraction ever. (While INVASION! doesn’t quite meet its predecessor, it did outlive it.)
3. Create Zone
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
While the Score and Replay Zones both have a signature attraction or two, they ultimately amount to nothing more than arcades. But returning to the Ventureport and crossing the Gateway into the Create Zone, you’ll begin to find more of the cutting edge, interactive, creativity DisneyQuest would like to be known for.
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
The Create Zone was developed at just the right time to merge creativity and technology, with surprising digital displays that are absolutely astounding. Sure, you can follow along with a Disney animator and sketch your own favorite Disney character over at the Disney-MGM Studios, but only at DisneyQuest’s Animation Academy can you do it all on digital screens! The touch-activated screens look and feel like something out of Carousel of Progress’ finale, and for just a few dollars more DisneyQuest’s Cast Members will print off your digital drawing to take home!
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
The Radio Disney SongMaker similarly allows us to assemble audio tracks by sampling instruments, voices, sounds, special effects, and riffs from thousands of popular songs. Who could ever foresee a day when the ability to easily and intuitively edit audio tracks could be within our reach? And yet, billions of potential combinations await. Naturally, you’ll want to purchase an audio CD of your creation to take home.
If you sympathized with Sid in Disney – Pixar’s new Toy Story and how he maniacally combined toy parts to create monstrosities, you can try it yourself with Sid’s Create-a-Toy, digitally clicking and dragging parts to create your own Franken-figure. Again, a picture of your design is available for an additional fee. The same is true with Living Easels and Magic Mirrors where digital effects can bring your reflection to life.
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
But by far the Create Zone’s anchor is the fabled Cyberspace Mountain. This one-of-a-kind attraction is truly a marvel. Set at a design studio computer, we’re able to design our own digital roller coaster by combining and simulating digital track pieces on a screen. All the fun of a first-person Roller Coaster Tycoon free-for-all, designing is only half the fun. As perhaps DisneyQuest’s signature attraction, we can then bring our digital design along with us to a ride simulator.
These real motion-based simulator pods (not unlike a mini version of MGM’s Lost Legend: STAR TOURS) really do weave, roll, and twist (even through real inversions!) as they bring your roller coaster to stunning life. You can see an on-ride video here, and what the simulator pod is actually doing here.
Now, on the next page, let’s tackle the final of DisneyQuest’s realms – the Explore Zone – and start to unravel why this unusual and creative concept began to disintegrate before our very eyes…
4. Explore Zone
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
Returning to Ventureport and across another Gateway bridge, this time we enter the final of DisneyQuest’s four areas: Explore Zone.
Explore Zone features a few of DisneyQuest’s more well-known attractions, including Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride (not to be confused with the very dissimilar Magic Carpets of Aladdin that opened at Magic Kingdom three years later). Seated on individual motorcycle style seats, we can put on another large VR headset to become totally immersed in a magic carpet ride through Agrabah.
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
The Virtual Jungle Cruise was another memorable addition, even if it wasn’t one of DisneyQuest’s best. Seated in “inflatable rafts” on a motion base, guests would paddle feverishly to escape the reach of digital dinosaurs projected on a screen ahead as the raft bobbed and bucked along the rapids.
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
Still, the effect might not have been totally convincing, and guests armed with oars tended to notice that, paddle or not, the ride continued unchanged. You can get a look at the experience in this video.
The most technologically advanced DisneyQuest attraction (by way of being the only attraction added after opening, replacing a Treasure of the Incas remote-controlled attraction) is Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold. Guests here would step onto the prow of a ship, with digital wrapped screens recreating the ocean beyond. Then, manning real cannons, we can shoot digital cannonballs at enemy vessels, cheering, singing, and plundering. Sort of a precursor to Toy Story Midway Mania, you can get a glimpse of the game here.
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
The problem
As you can imagine, the wonders of DisneyQuest were truly cutting edge… A decade before the first iPhone would even become available, DisneyQuest offered glimpses into virtual reality, high definition video, motion sensors, and true interactive multimedia features that were still years away from public consumption.
In fact, DisneyQuest was like a living, breathing test lab where you were able to prototype the most astounding technologies you had likely ever seen, all wrapped into an appropriately-epic and stylistically-current (read: 1990s) package that looked and felt like it had its finger on the pulse of pop culture. DisneyQuest was smart, cool, stylish, and impressive. However…
Remember we specifically noted that our walkthrough shows us DisneyQuest “as it appeared in its earliest years.” The problem is simple: that’s also how it appeared in its last years, nearly two decades later. In other words, a visit to DisneyQuest in 2017 offered exactly the same games, technology, and hardware… and if you hadn’t noticed, technology today looks… well… a little different than it did in 1998.
DisneyQuest wasn’t always doomed. It was Disney’s choice to leave the attraction to rot and rust, outright refusing to upgrade its software or hardware for twenty years. Why? That’s the interesting part… Read on as we wrap up the story of its disastrous downfall…
Expansion and retreat
Disney Regional Entertainment must’ve been pleased with the reaction to – and revenue from – Orlando’s DisneyQuest, because their world domination action plan proceeded outward from there.
Image: Disney
DisneyQuest Chicago opened on June 16, 1999. A virtual clone of the Orlando facility, Chicago’s 90,000 square foot outpost was a natural next step in that it secured Disney a footprint in the third most populous city in the United States (behind New York and Los Angeles), a Midwest hub, and (coincidentally) Walt Disney’s birthplace. Located on Rush and Ohio Streets (just beyond the city’s Magnificent Mile), the Illinois DisneyQuest brilliantly adapted the now-iconic “box” façade for an urban landscape and seemed positioned on the most prime real estate imaginable.
If you can stomach the ’90s nostalgia, you can relive the opening of Chicago’s DisneyQuest (and get a glimpse of many of the attractions inside) via live opening day coverage from ABC News:
The opening of a second DisneyQuest primed Disney for similar installations in other leading cities. A DisneyQuest Philadelphia was announced with initial ground broken, and Toronto was eyed as a fourth facility. It seemed that DisneyQuest would indeed bring the magic of a Disney vacation “home,” establishing Disney as a regional player in family entertainment.
By the end of the ’90s – after Disney had officially cancelled the Possibilityland: WESTCOT – work was already underway in Anaheim expanding Disneyland Park into the Disneyland Resort. While the Declassified Disaster: Disney’s California Adventure would be the resort’s new headliner, an accompanying Downtown Disney District had included in its Phase II expansion a DisneyQuest of its own (above), next to fellow Disney Regional Entertainment attraction, the ESPN Zone bar and grill.
So even if only Orlando’s prototype (1998) and the Chicago follow-up (1999) were up and running, it seemed certain that DisneyQuest was well on its way to becoming a global brand, with Philadelphia, Toronto, and Anaheim on deck.
But on September 4, 2001 – after a run of about two years – Chicago’s DisneyQuest unexpectedly closed its doors. Randall Baumberger, senior vice president of Disney Regional Entertainment told the LA Times:
“We have concluded that the expected returns on the investment required to achieve DisneyQuest’s cutting-edge technology standard in a stand-alone environment will not meet the company’s financial requirements.”
Look to Disney’s early Tomorrowlands or Epcot’s Future World to see what he meant… any sincere determination to actually predict or showcase cutting edge technologies requires enormous (not to mention continuous) investment. There is no “until…” To keep DisneyQuest cutting edge would require extensive financial backing forever.
And as the New Millennium came and went, it was already clear that the technologies on display in DisneyQuest – both in Orlando and Chicago – were becoming less astounding by the day… and thus, less worthy of guests’ admission or (more importantly) their return visit.
Put another way, visitors came to DisneyQuest… the problem is, they didn’t come back. And long term, it was clear that DisneyQuest couldn’t keep up with the ever-increasing demands of technology… all while tinkering with the price that Midwest families would be willing to pay. Joe DiNunzio – the executive tasked with developing DisneyQuest – looked back later with Polygon:
“The business clearly failed, because it didn’t thrive. It didn’t expand to 10 and then 25 units. It didn’t deliver profit targets that were part of the plan. So, you know, on any reasonable measurement, it did not meet its objectives.”
There’s a suggestion there that, although Disney’s spokesperson assured the media that DisneyQuest Chicago was successful, the company would altruistically shutter it rather than let it limp along without investment. It’s almost noble to imagine that Disney would rather have no regional entertainment than sub-par regional entertainment… Until you catch up on what happened in Orlando…
A fate worse than death
Anaheim? Axed.
Toronto? Dream on.
Philadelphia? Cancelled.
Chicago? Closed.
Only the original DisneyQuest in Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney remained. Disney Regional Entertainment (which continued to exist until 2010 thanks to the ESPN Zone line of restaurants) handed operation of the attraction over to the Walt Disney World Resort and Team Disney Orlando, internally integrating it into theme park operations.
Image: Disney / Lucasfilm
It must’ve been presumed that it, too, would quickly close its doors. Instead, the almost-unthinkable happened: it stayed open.
But from that moment on, DisneyQuest was supplied with literally zero non-essential investment. From 2001 onward, Disney’s “cutting edge” “indoor, interactive theme park” didn’t receive a single new addition. Not one.
And, in line with our previous point, that made DisneyQuest woefully dated by the early 2000s, and outright pitiful by 2010. That means that, for a vast, overwhelming majority of its life, DisneyQuest was an unintentional retro-throwback… a laughable “showcase” of technologies from a decade ago. (And think about it – today, the most cutting edge technological marvels of even a decade ago might as well be relics, stored in museum archives.)
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
The “VR” that once seemed to bring the future to life became a clunky, rudimentary technology that was downright laughable to interact with. The “high definition” digital video might’ve looked a step ahead of the PlayStation, but it was a step behind the PlayStation 2 that would come out just two years into DisneyQuest’s life. The “interactivity” promised by DisneyQuest’s games felt about as lively and forward thinking as the equally aged Innoventions. The “indoor theme park” looked, felt, and was a relic of a bygone era, dripping in ‘90s design and ‘90s tech…
That’s not to say a generation didn’t still connect to DisneyQuest. Up through the 2000s and 2010s, it remained an odd aside; a roadside tourist attraction worthy of seeing if only to say you did; if only to peel back the mystery of the big blue box and witness something sincerely one-of-a-kind. DisneyQuest might’ve made its share of personal connections, but as a business venture, an arcade, and an “indoor theme park,” it was sunk…
Change springs forth
As DisneyQuest’s decline began in earnest in the mid-2000s, Disney exectives were already considering what to do about Downtown Disney as a whole. The expensive-to-operate clubs of Pleasure Island shuttered in 2008, essentially leaving a third of the property (and the one right between the West Side and Marketplace at that) boarded up. Disney’s plans to renovate Pleasure Island alone fell through when the 2008 financial crisis scared any vendors from wanting to be a part of the reinvented ‘Hyperion Wharf’ project.
Ultimately, executives must’ve agreed that the only way to push Downtown Disney forward was to reinvigorate the entire property. In early 2013, Disney announced a radical redesign that would completely transform Downtown Disney into Disney Springs, shedding much of its playful, oversized “Downtown” aesthetic in favor of a trendy, upscale outdoor town center and a unified aesthetic.
Image: Disney
In the spirit of Disney California Adventure’s Buena Vista Street, a full-fledged story was developed by Imagineers: “Drawing inspiration from Florida’s waterfront towns and natural beauty, Disney Springs [includes] four outdoor neighborhoods interconnected by a flowing spring and vibrant lakefront.”
Indeed, as you tour the neighborhoods of Disney Springs, observant fans of themed design will note layers of added history, giving the impression that this shopping district has evolved throughout Florida’s life from a waterside village to a vibrant retail town center. (Art imitates life, after all.)
Image: Disney
Disney Springs opened in phases through 2016, revitalizing the area with new shops, restaurants, boutiques, and cafes split among four “neighborhoods”: the West Side (blue), The Landing (formerly Pleasure Island, red), the Marketplace (green), and an entirely new fourth area, Town Center (orange), constructed on a former surface parking lot. Family-friendly retail was largely outbid by top tier brands, establishing Disney Springs as a much different destination than Downtown Disney had been.
One thing that did not change? DisneyQuest. At least, not yet…
Game over / game on
DisneyQuest survived decades of development. Even as Downtown Disney became Disney Springs around it, DisneyQuest kept going without so much as a software update. Year after year after year, rumors swirled that DisneyQuest’s time was short. It felt inevitable. And yet, year after year after year, the doors stayed open. Would Disney ever fold?
On June 30, 2015, the call finally came down: for DisneyQuest, it would be “game over” in 2016. Nearly two-decades out of date, the “indoor, interactive theme park” throwback to ‘90s family entertainment centers would finally close its doors to make way for an NBA-themed attraction. However, 2016 came and went, and DisneyQuest still stayed open. Insiders suggested that Disney’s relationship with the NBA was fizzling, and without a definitive future for DisneyQuest’s property, there was no reason to commit to closing it.
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
On and on it limped. Only in November of 2016 – the year of its supposed closure – did Disney update guests. Yes, DisneyQuest was still going to close… they just weren’t sure when anymore.
Ultimately, DisneyQuest’s final day of operation was July 2, 2017… Frankly, a nineteen-year life is a very, very long time for an attraction entirely reliant on showcasing technology… Think about it… DisneyQuest opened ten years before the release of the first iPhone! Imagine if you had the same computer today you did in 1998… and then consider that DisneyQuest did.
Guests visiting on that last day received a commemorative lithograph and an arcade style token. Beginning that weekend, many of the arcade games from within were auctioned off to Cast Members.
Of course, that strange blue box looming over the West Side was demolished. Though it was “Game Over” for DisneyQuest, it was “game on” for the NBA. In DisneyQuest’s footprint, a curiously similar big-blue-box was built to house the NBA Experience.
When the NBA Experience opened on August 12, 2019, fans were somewhat surprised to find that the interior had a lot in common with DisneyQuest, too – from a central atrium of winding staircases connecting multiple levels, to an emphasis on interactive technology demonstrations and arcade-style games (albeit, focused on basketball), the NBA Experience is mostly oriented around “Instagrammable” moments: having a virtual crowd cheer as you make free-throws, adjustable-height “dunking” interactives, and competitive games.
Another thing the NBA Experience has in common with DisneyQuest? An eye-wateringly high entry price (currently, $34 per person), leading to a mostly-empty facility. It’s no secret that Disney’s been trying anything it can (short of a price reduction, obviously) to lure people into the NBA Experience, including giving it top billing on marketing, dispatching Cast Members through Disney Springs dribbling basketballs to attract guests in, and even restructuring ticket tiers to include the NBA Experience with the newly-renamed “Water Park and Sports” add-on.
While a generation of Disney World guests looked up at DisneyQuest in mystery and awe, folks just don’t seem that excited about the NBA Experience… including those who visit without dropping $34 per person. That makes it really, really difficult to say with any certainty that the NBA Experience is “better” than DisneyQuest… and given the state DisneyQuest was in, that’s saying something.
Concept’s crash
Here’s the thing: DisneyQuest was not a bad concept… Essentially combining a family entertainment center (think Chuck E. Cheese or Dave & Buster’s) with Disney branding, scale, and reach, it might have legitimately become a mainstay of American cities and a local connection to Disney Parks… Intriguing advertising, the must-see draw of the mysterious “box” architecture, the zippy promise of an “indoor, interactive theme park…” It seemed golden.
Except for one messy consideration: technology. The exponential growth of technology even in the last two decades has been so astounding, any attempt to sincerely and authentically feature “cutting edge” hardware or software would require monthly updates at least. Continuous and expensive modifications would be the name of the game and the only way to keep DisneyQuest viable – much less “re-ridable.”
At the end of the day, Disney admitted defeat with the Disney Regional Entertainment concept, essentially saying that they couldn’t price DisneyQuest in such a way that locals (or even tourists) would visit regularly while still underwriting the enormous investment it was clear that the concept would need.
What’s most unusual, though, is that DisneyQuest would’ve been a mere blip on the radar – an interesting if irrelevant failed concept remembered by very few – if the Orlando location didn’t stay alive for two decades, sincerely frozen in a state of eternal ‘90s glamour. Along the way, it earned its share of fans for what it was, even if by all logical accounts, it was just a little embarrassing that Disney kept it open at all, much less charged top dollar for access.
Was it all a waste? Not if you ask Joe DiNunzio. “The legacy that [DisneyQuest and the team that built it] provided to the Disney theme parks is the beginning of things like Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters and Midway Mania and other interactive attractions that got implemented in the theme parks. A lot of that came from the team that developed the attractions for DisneyQuest.”
DisneyQuest proved not only the power of embedding technology in Disney Parks, but the risk… It was a brave, foolish, doomed, and brilliant experiment that truly has shaped Imagineering for decades…
Though the story of DisneyQuest may be a doozy, it’s just one of the detailed Disaster Files in our LEGEND LIBRARY, so make the jump there to set course for another story. Then, we want to hear from you. Do you think the DisneyQuest concept stood a chance? Would you have visited a DisneyQuest in your city… or, better yet, would you have kept visiting?
