DisneyQuest
Encyclopedia
DisneyQuest is an "indoor interactive theme park" located in Downtown Disney
Downtown Disney (Florida)
Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Downtown Disney is open to the public, requires no admission fee, and offers complimentary parking and transportation to all Disney-operated Walt Disney...

 at the Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...

 in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. It is housed in a five-story, windowless building. Guests enter the first-floor lobby and are transported via a "magic" elevator to the third floor atrium at the start of their visit.

Background

The DisneyQuest project was designed as a way for the Disney brand to reach populations that 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
Disneyland Resort
The Disneyland Resort is a recreational resort in Anaheim, California. The resort is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division and is home to two theme parks, three hotels and a shopping, dining, and entertainment area known as Downtown Disney.The area now...

 in California never proceeded past the planning stage. Disney announced another location to be built in downtown Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 (at the Dundas Square
Dundas Square
Yonge-Dundas Square is a commercial junction and public square, situated at the southeast corner of the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street East in Downtown Toronto...

 inside the new high tech mall Metropolis), but the project was also canceled.

After the closure of the Chicago location, Disney Regional Entertainment turned over control of the remaining location to Walt Disney World operations.

Design

The locations were to be similar in 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 not been significantly changed.

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
Hercules (1997 film)
Hercules is a 1997 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fifth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker...

 was replaced with Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold.

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 & humorous 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. When a game or attraction is down, a sign reading "The Genie has spotted a technical problem..." is displayed.

*As of 2011, the Genie is no longer located in the cybrolators and there is no word on whether he will return or not. If you ask a Disney Quest Cast Member, they will tell you that the Genie is on vacation with the hopes that he will return soon.

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 to destroy other ships.
  • 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.

Second floor

  • CyberSpace Mountain: Guests design a roller coaster on a design kiosk, then sit in a pitch-and-roll simulator and "ride" it. Guests may also ride pre-built coasters. It is hosted by Bill Nye the Science Guy
    Bill Nye
    William Sanford "Bill" Nye , popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American science educator, comedian, television host, actor, mechanical engineer, and scientist...

    , who instead refers to himself as "Bill Nye the Coaster Guy".
  • Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride: Players wear an head-mounted display
    Head-mounted display
    A head-mounted display or helmet mounted display, both abbreviated HMD, is a display device, worn on the head or as part of a helmet, that has a small display optic in front of one or each eye .- Overview :...

     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
    Animation Academy
    Animation Academy is an attraction at the Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney California Adventure, Walt Disney Studios Park and DisneyQuest. And is also one of the latest attractions of Hong Kong Disneyland....

    :
    Regular sessions throughout the day teach how to draw characters, with lightpens on computer screens. Guests can purchase a printout afterward.
  • Sid's Create-a-Toy: A program featuring the evil Sid character from Toy Story
    Toy Story
    Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...

     that allows one to custom design a toy out of parts of other toys, and then buy it later.
  • 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.
  • Radio Disney Song Maker: Where you can create your own song, and then buy it later.

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 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.

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.*

  • As of early 2011, "Ride the Comix 4" has been "overtaken by villains" and is in service only on days where the building is near capacity. However, guests can still play Ride the Comix on the 5th floor directly above.

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 former Magic Kingdom attraction, ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter
    ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter
    ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter was a "theater-in-the-round" attraction in the Tomorrowland section of the Magic Kingdom themepark at Walt Disney World Resort...

    .

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 could still be seen near the Virtual Jungle Cruise area, adjacent to the Safari hunting games until 2007 when the floor was recovered and new games moved to the area. This area is now entirely jungle themed and is home to a number of Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice
    Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice
    Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice is a joystick-mounted gun arcade game by Sega. Players take the roles of a man and a woman stranded on a jungle island which has been overrun by monsters...

     Jeeps.
  • 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".

Other games

  • Classic arcade games such as Pac-Man
    Pac-Man
    is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...

    , Ms. Pac-Man
    Ms. Pac-Man
    Ms. Pac-Man is an arcade video game produced by Midway as an unauthorized sequel to Pac-Man. It was released in North America in 1981 and became one of the most popular video games of all time, leading to its adoption by Pac-Man licensor Namco as an official title...

    , Asteroids, Tron
    Tron (arcade game)
    Tron is a coin-operated arcade video game manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway in 1982. It is based on the Walt Disney Productions motion picture Tron released in the same year. The game consists of four subgames inspired by the events of the science fiction film. It features some...

    , BurgerTime
    Burgertime
    is a 1982 arcade game created by Data East for its DECO Cassette System. The game's original title, Hamburger, was changed to BurgerTime before its introduction to the US. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients located across a maze of platforms while avoiding...

    , Zaxxon
    Zaxxon
    Zaxxon is a 1982 arcade game developed and released by Sega. Some sources claim that Japanese electronics company Ikegami Tsushinki also worked on the development of Zaxxon...

    , Pengo, Kangaroo, Berzerk
    Berzerk
    Berzerk is a multi-directional shooter video arcade game, released in 1980 by Stern Electronics of Chicago.-Gameplay:The player controls a green stick-figure, representing a "humanoid." Using a joystick , the player navigates a simple maze filled with many robots, who fire lasers back at the...

    , Donkey Kong (in all its iterations), Joust, Robotron: 2084
    Robotron: 2084
    Robotron: 2084 is an arcade video game developed by Vid Kidz and released by Williams Electronics in 1982. It is a shooting game that features two-dimensional graphics. The game is set in the year 2084, in a fictional world where robots have turned against humans...

    , Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
    Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (arcade game)
    Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is the sequel to the vector graphics Star Wars arcade game. It was released by Atari Games in 1985 as a conversion kit for the original game. As in Star Wars, the player takes the role of Luke Skywalker in a set of familiar battle sequences in a first-person...

    , Marble Madness
    Marble Madness
    Marble Madness is an arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny, and published by Atari Games in 1984. It is a platform game in which the player must guide an onscreen marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies, within a time limit. The player controls the marble by using a...

    , Moon Patrol
    Moon Patrol
    is a classic arcade game by Irem that was first released in 1982. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America.The player controls a moon buggy, viewing it from the side, that travels over the moon's surface. While driving it, obstacles such as craters and mines must be avoided....

    , Spy Hunter
    Spy Hunter
    Spy Hunter is a 1983 arcade game developed and released by Bally Midway. It has also been ported to various home computers and video game systems....

    , Asteroids Deluxe, Centipede, Millipede, Q*Bert, Missile Command
    Missile Command
    Missile Command is a 1980 arcade game by Atari, Inc. that was also licensed to Sega for European release. It is considered one of the most notable games from the Golden Age of Video Arcade Games...

    , Frogger
    Frogger
    Frogger is an arcade game introduced in 1981. It was developed by Konami, and licensed for worldwide distribution by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct frogs to their homes one by one. To do this, each frog must avoid cars while crossing a busy road and navigate a river full of...

    , Arkanoid
    Arkanoid
    is an arcade game developed by Taito in 1986. It is based upon Atari's Breakout games of the 1970s. The title refers to a doomed "mothership" from which the player's ship, the Vaus, escapes.-Overview:...

    , Mario Bros.
    Mario Bros.
    is an arcade game published and developed by Nintendo in 1983. It was developed by Shigeru Miyamoto. It has been commonly featured as a minigame in the Super Mario Advance series and other games...

    , Dig Dug
    Dig Dug
    is an arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. It was later published outside of Japan by Atari. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.-Objective:...

    , Mr. Do!
    Mr. Do!
    Mr. Do! is an arcade game created by Universal in 1982.  Remotely similar in gameplay to Namco's popular Dig Dug title, Mr. Do! was also popular and saw release on a variety of home video game consoles and systems.  It is the first game in the Mr...

    , Gorf
    Gorf
    Gorf is an arcade game released in 1981 by Midway Mfg., whose name was advertised as an acronym for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force". It is a multiple-mission fixed shooter with five distinct modes of play, essentially making it five games in one...

    , Galaga
    Galaga
    is a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979. The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a space ship which is situated on the bottom of the screen...

    , and others.
  • Arcade games from the 1990s and 2000s such as an eight-player linked Sega Daytona USA
    Daytona USA (arcade game)
    Daytona USA is a 1993 racing video game by Sega. Considered one of the highest grossing arcade games of all time, Daytona USA was Sega's first title to debut on the Sega Model 2 arcade board, and at the time of its 1993 introduction, was considered the most visually detailed 3D arcade racing game...

    (which has been recently replaced with EA Sports/Global VR's NASCAR Racing), a four-player linked San Francisco Rush 2049
    San Francisco Rush 2049
    San Francisco Rush 2049 is a racing video game developed by Atari Games and published by Midway Games for the Arcade, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and Dreamcast. It was released on September 7, 2000 in North America, and November 17, 2000 in Europe....

    , a four-player linked Sega OutRun 2
    OutRun 2
    OutRun 2 is a racing game released by Sega in 2003. Although this is the first official sequel to Out Run, it is the fifth title in the Out Run series.-Gameplay:...

    , two Pump It Up
    Pump It Up
    Pump It Up, commonly abbreviated as PIU or shortened to just Pump, is a music video game series currently developed by Nexcade and published by Andamiro, a Korean arcade game producer. The game is typically played on a dance pad with five arrow panels: up-left, up-right, bottom-left, bottom-right,...

     dance games (Fiesta and NX2), Dance Dance Revolution
    Dance Dance Revolution
    Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...

     Supernova 2, several Guitar Hero Arcade games, a number of fighting games such as Tekken 5
    Tekken 5
    is the sixth installment in the popular Tekken series. It also marks the tenth anniversary of the series. It was updated for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 as Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and succeeded by Tekken 6.- Story :...

    , Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and the arcade edition of Soulcalibur. There were many more games, such as two Sega Crazy Taxi
    Crazy Taxi
    Crazy Taxi is a sandbox racing video game developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega. It is the first game in the Crazy Taxi series. The game was first released in arcades in 1999 and was ported to the Dreamcast in 2000. Subsequently, it was ported to the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube by...

     machines, 6 Sega Sea Hawk
    Sea Hawk
    Sea Hawk or Seahawk may refer to:In Ornithology:* the Osprey* the SkuaIn naval history:*RNAS Culdrose , name of the Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose at Helston in Cornwall...

     machines, one Sega Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
    Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
    Star Wars Trilogy Arcade is an arcade game first released in 1998. The game is a 3-D rail shooter based on the original trilogy of Star Wars films and was released along with the special editions of these films. Sega also released an accompanying pinball game...

     sit-down machine, double two-player linked Mario Kart Arcade GP
    Mario Kart Arcade GP
    Mario Kart Arcade GP is an arcade-only iteration of Nintendo's Mario Kart series, developed by both Namco and Nintendo. Designed for the Triforce arcade board , players can race as one of eleven characters in twenty-four tracks...

     cabinets, several sports arcade games including Sega Air Trix, Virtua Tennis
    Virtua Tennis
    Virtua Tennis is a 1999 tennis arcade game created by Sega-AM3. The player competes through tennis tournaments and various arcade modes. For the home console market the game was expanded with the introduction of the campaign mode. It was later ported to Dreamcast in 2000, and for Microsoft Windows...

    , Sega World Series Baseball
    World Series Baseball
    Sega Sports' World Series Baseball, or simply World Series Baseball, is a sports game developed by BlueSky Software and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis. It is the first game in the series and was originally released in 1994...

    , Bowl-O-Rama, Sega Marine Fishing
    SEGA Marine Fishing
    Sega Marine Fishing is a fishing simulation game in which the player attempts to catch various marine sport fish. The gameplay's emphasis was on enticing fish to bite onto the lure and then successfully fighting the fish and reeling it to the boat....

    , F&F Super Bikes, an extremely rare Sega Flash Beat, and many others.
  • Skeeball, "shoot-the-hoops", air hockey
    Air hockey
    Air hockey is a game for two competing players trying to score points in the opposing player's goal.-Equipment:Air hockey requires an air-hockey table, two player-held mallets, and a puck....

    , and other games of skill.
  • Upcoming games from DisneyQuest are the 4-player Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX+, a single deluxe Motor Raid cabinet and a DDR Solo 4th cabinet.

Dining

DisneyQuest features two quick service restaurants. On the fourth floor, the Wonderland Cafe features desserts and drinks. On the fifth floor, food is served at two stations: Food Quest, which is primarily burgers, chicken, wraps and sandwiches, and Pizza Pasta Panini, which in addition to the foods in its name serves salads.

As of fall 2008, alcohol is served on the fourth floor in the Wonderland Cafe area.

Both the Cheesecake Factory restaurants were closed at the end of May 2008 after the Cheesecake factory's contract expired. Then reopened June 2008 by the Food Quest, Disney owned and operated quick services. The Pizza, Pasta, and Panini and Burgers, Dogs, and Wraps sides have been consolidated and only one side is open, except during peak hours with slightly altered menus. The Cafe area on the fourth floor was reopened as well during the peak summer season on test runs. It now features grab and go food items along with desserts, popcorn and alcoholic beverages.

Price

Except for prize-play (claw
Claw vending machine
A claw crane is a type of arcade game known as a merchandiser, commonly found in video arcades, supermarkets, restaurants, movie theaters, and bowling alleys...

) machines and photo booths, all games and attractions inside DisneyQuest are included after admission is paid. 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
Dave & Buster's
Dave & Buster's is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Each D&B has a full-service restaurant and a video arcade. As of July 1, 2009, the company had 57 locations across the United States and two in Canada. The company also licenses the D&B concept...

 gaming restaurants. Within a few years this was changed to a single flat fee for entry, and the cards and readers were no longer used. The card readers continued to be used for a few years as means to insert credits (the card readers were set to free mode, and pressing the green "OK" button would insert a credit), but as new games moved in and old ones were retired, the card readers began to vanish as the machines were simply set to free play within the games themselves and, while a few can still be found, they are incredibly scarce today, and have all been disabled completely.

One section of the fourth floor, called "Midway on the Moon," was devoted to redemption game
Redemption game
Redemption games are typically arcade games of skill that reward the player proportionally to their score in the game. The reward most often comes in the form of tickets, with more tickets being awarded for higher scores. These tickets can then be redeemed at a central location for prizes...

s. These games were not included in the admission cost of DisneyQuest, and still used the swipe cards even after the rest of the facility switched to free-play. Players could exchange tickets won at these games of skill for various prizes. However, in late 2005, the games were converted to free play and no longer dispense tickets.

Certain attractions have souvenirs available for purchase in the second floor Guest Gallery. Cyberspace Mountain has an available video of the created roller coaster, with footage of the guests riding the attraction. The Animation Academy, Sid's Create-A-Toy, the Living Easels and Radio Disney Song Maker all offer the option of purchasing created items.

Attraction facts

  • Location: Downtown Disney
    Downtown Disney (Florida)
    Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Downtown Disney is open to the public, requires no admission fee, and offers complimentary parking and transportation to all Disney-operated Walt Disney...

  • Opened: March 1, 1998
  • Coordinates: 28.3703041°N 81.5221252°W
  • Address: 1486 East Buena Vista Drive
  • Phone Number: (407) 828-4600
  • Fax Number: (407) 938-6202

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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