A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: DisneyQuest

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

DISNEYQUEST

By Jim Korkis

The DisneyQuest program was designed to be a national series of multi-story, interactive “virtual” Disney theme parks for large urban areas that might have populations who could not frequently visit an actual Disney theme park.

(c) Disney

To work out any challenges, the first five-story, one hundred thousand square foot DisneyQuest opened in the Downtown Disney West Side area on June 19, 1998 to take advantage of the participation of an already enthusiastically large audience to work out any challenges.

A second DisneyQuest opened in Chicago in 1999 but permanently closed on September 4, 2001 due to a number of factors including low attendance.

There were plans for twenty more similar venues, including ones in Philadelphia, in the Disneyland Resort in California as well as in Toronto, Canada, but none of them proceeded beyond the initial planning stages.

The idea started in late 1994 with vice president of new ventures Joe DiNunzio and Mike Lang of Corporate Strategic Planning.

“Since technology was arriving at a state where interactive storytelling and virtual environments were becoming possible, it seemed like a good time to push it a bit farther and develop a new kind of entertainment venue,” recalled senior producer and creative director Larry Gertz.

“The endeavor would have the environment and variety of a theme park, the interactivity of an arcade and the excitement of a thrill ride. And with the ability to create virtual environments and sets, the whole thing could be indoors and located in various cities, all over the world.”

To dispel the notion that it was merely an arcade to appeal to teenaged boys and young men, Disney hired five female show producers, three female engineers and had the lighting produced entirely by women.

“We produced fifteen different cutting edge attractions, all at once. And they all had to pass the Florida Ride Legislation review. We had to develop many technologies simultaneously that were all very different,” said project director Pete Rahill.

Disney Quest is divided into four zones of play:

• EXPLORE ZONE: The Virtual Jungle Cruise, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride racing through Agrabah to release the Genie and the Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold.
• SCORE ZONE: A rescue mission on other planets in Invasion! An Alien Encounter and also Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam
• CREATE ZONE: The Living Easels to paint a live masterpiece. Create and ride a virtual rollercoaster at CyberSpace Mountain. Sid’s Create-A-Toy where guests could assemble and take home their own toy. Learn how to draw a Disney animated character at the Animation Academy. Create a CD by choosing from over 20 styles and 1000 vocals at the Radio Disney SongMaker.
• REPLAY ZONE: Buzz Lightyear’s AstroBlaster is a zany bumper car race. Mad Wave Motion Theater where you can ride a fantasy coaster or a high speed race car. The Dance Zone offers the latest dance video games and KidQuest is designed for kids ages 2 – 7.

Throughout the location, there are additional video games, pinball machines, and a Wonderland Café coffee and dessert location where guests could connect with the internet as well as a traditional Food Quest court with pizza, sandwiches, salads and other items.

When it first opened, the venue included other attractions like Hercules in the Underworld, the Cybrolator, The Cave of Wonders Slide, Treasure of the Incas and Magic Mirrors.

Redemption games were removed from the facility in January 2015.

In an era of smartphone apps, lifelike video games and other interactive attractions, DisneyQuest appeared too dated for many people. On June 30, 2015, Disney announced that the entire location would be closing in 2016 to make way for the NBA Experience. However, at Disney, plans are always changing and now it appears DisneyQuest will survive into 2017.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

RELATED STUFF

• A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis
• w. Most Recent Stuff