MouseStation 312 – DisneyQuest
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Show run time 0:38:02
In today’s show, Mark and Mike talk about the history of “Disney’s indoor theme park” it’s current condition and speculate a little on its future.
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Thanks to our sponsors
Today’s show is sponsored by:
Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center. A luxury hotel one mile from Walt Disney World, where special MousePlanet rates ALWAYS get you at least 15% off the normal rates available for the property, and right now you can get rates as low as $129 per night – that’s about what you’d pay for a Disney moderate resort!
Advantage Vacation Homes. A great vacation home rental company that gives you a place to stay with lots more space than a regular hotel room for a lot less money.
Feature: DisneyQuest
Mark and Mike talk about the history of Disney’s indoor theme park, it’s current condition and speculate a little on its future.
DisneyQuest originally opened at Downtown Disney’s West Side on June 19, 1998. It originally operated under a pay-per-play model, and was to be the first of a chain of DisneyQuests, similar to the ESPN Zones.
The second DisneyQuest location opened in Chicago on June 6, 1999, just a few weeks prior to the Chicago ESPN Zone, just down the street, which opened on July 10, 1999. While the DisneyQuest franchise idea flopped, ESPN Zone was a relative success and there are now nine ESPN Zones operating around the country.
When the Chicago location closed on September 4, 2001, the entire business model collapsed. Rather than being able to allocate research and development costs across multiple locations, all new development is directly allocated to the one remaining location. Because of that, there were very few upgrades or replacements of attractions.
At this point, the price model switched to a pay-one-price model, where once you paid to enter the complex you didn’t have to pay for anything (except for food and purchasing your creations).
We listed all of the current attractions, with brief descriptions and commentary.
DisneyQuest has survived many rumors of its impending doom. It was perhaps saved by the closure of the Virgin Megastore, and the plans originally set for the DisneyQuest building (reportedly a larger ESPN Zone) may now be used to fill that space. The reworking of the food service in the building (taken over by Disney after Cheesecake Factory did not renew their contract) and the introduction of alcoholic beverage service last fall are both indicators that it will be around for a while, since they’ll probably keep it running at least until after they fill all of the existing vacant spaces.
For more details, listen to the show itself!
Many sources were used in assembling the information for this show, including the DisneyQuest page at the Walt Disney World Web site, the Wikipedia pages for DisneyQuest and the ESPN Zone, as well as several news articles from various news services and from MousePlanet’s Walt Disney World Park Updates.
What do you think? Let us know by sending us an email or calling our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278)!
Twitter/Facebook poll questions
Here are the responses to some questions that Mark was asking on Twitter and Facebook in the last week. If you’d like to get in on answering these questions in the future, you can follow Mark on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.
Which attraction would you miss most if it went away?
| Haunted Mansion | 8 |
| Carousel of Progress | 5 |
| Spaceship Earth | 4 |
| Space Mountain | 3 |
| Splash Mountain | 3 |
| Pirates of the Caribbean | 3 |
| “it’s a small world” | 2 |
| Star Tours | 1 |
| Big Thunder Mountain Railroad | 1 |
| Illuminations | 1 |
| Jungle Cruise | 1 |
| Matterhorn | 1 |
| Indiana Jones Adventure | 1 |
| Twilight Zone Tower of Terror | 1 |
Which attraction would you miss least if it went away?
| Stitch’s Great Escape | 15 |
| Sounds Dangerous | 5 |
| Astro Orbiter | 4 |
| Honey, I Shrunk the Audience | 2 |
| Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor | 2 |
| Dinoland, U.S.A. | 1 |
| Primeval Whirl | 1 |
| Tomorrowland Speedway | 1 |
| Flying Carpets of Aladdin | 1 |
| Mulholland Madness | 1 |
| Splash Mountain | 1 |
| Mad Tea Party | 1 |
Again, if you’d like to get in on answering these questions in the future, you can follow Mark on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.
Meet Mike and Mark at Walt Disney World
Mike will be hosting a meet this Friday night (that’s tomorrow night!), May 22, at 8:30 p.m. The group will gather at the Torii Gate at Epcot’s Japan pavilion and chat, enjoy Illuminations, then enjoy Epcot during Extra Magic Hours. You can RSVP at the Facebook event page.
Mark will also be hosting a meet just days later, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. The meet will be at the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station’s lower seating area, overlooking Cinderella Castle. There may also be impromptu opportunities to meet Mark on Monday and Tuesday; follow him on Twitter (
) to see where he is and where you can meet up with him. You can also RSVP for Mark’s meet via
or at the
.
March of Dimes
Mark’s walk for the March of Dimes went well, though he did not make his goal. MousePlanet readers and MouseStation listeners made up more than half of the non-Mark-contributed money – thanks so much! The donations page should remain active through the end of the month, so you there’s still time to donate, if you’d like. Just go to Mark’s fundraising page and help to provide a better chance to prevent prematurity and to help those babies that are born prematurely.
MouseAdventure at Walt Disney World, November 14
Don’t forget that registration is now open for MouseAdventure Walt Disney World! Get your team ready and register now!
Also, don’t forget to sign up for the MouseAdventure Newsletter, which will keep you informed as more details about MouseAdventure and the MouseAdventure on the High Seas cruise are announced!
Wrapping up
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Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng and to announcer Andrew Rich.
Thank you for listening!
