[Disney Vacation Planner]
At A Glance |
Large multi-floor amusement
center |
View Disney
Quest photo from the gallery.
Like Innoventions in Future World, this cutting edge amusement
center and multilevel arcade boasts the latest in gaming technology,
including an interactive play area with laser tag, virtual reality
adventures, and the latest grand-scale arcade games.
Some of the advertising material bills it as being the worlds
first indoor ultimite interactive adventure park. Whilst I certainly
wouldn't go that far, it makes a very interesting high-tech update
to the old style "Fun Houses" that populated many of
the British seaside resorts.
Gone are the older climbing areas, rolling walk-through wheels,
pinball machines, and humorous mirrors replaced by high-tech interactive
pinball, total imersion virtual reality adventures, and ultra
high tech video games.
Within the 5-story building you can Climb aboard a real river
raft, grab a paddle, and shoot the rapids in a virtural prehistoric
world. Buckle into a motion simulator and ride a roller coaster
of your own design. Or even fly a magic carpet through the bazaars
and alleyways in an ancient city. All brought to life via motion
simulators, and virtual reality devices.
Disney Quest is designed to be the ideal safe hangout for teens
age twelve to twenty. Admission is via a pass charged at a daily
rate (currently $29 for Adults).
As with most things from Disney, DisneyQuest is designed to drop
guests into an entirely different world. Disney Imagineering has
turned a simple "blue, wavy-roofed building" into a five-story
maze of virtual adventure. To jazz up the outside, huge versions
of the swirling "Q" from the DisneyQuest Logo (affectionately
known as "Hurricane Mickey") on the front and back of the building.
Inside the building, there is no hint of the outside world, except
what can be seen through glass doors on the front entrance and
gift shop exit. The layout of DisneyQuest is almost as complex
as the experience itself. Staircases swirl from floor to floor.
The zones, or levels, are designed to flow seamlessly, one into
the next. Some zones keep the action to one floor; others let
you peek from floor-to-floor, with the end result a labyrinth
of pathways with an adventure around every corner.
DisneyQuests also has its own naming conventions. Employees are
called "navigators." The entrance is not an entrance, it's the
Departure Lobby. It features gold pillars with faces of Disney
characters engraved into the capitals of the columns. The floor
is a huge compass designed to point your way to the adventure
that lies ahead, with "Aladdin's" Genie guiding you along with
a hilarious voice-over.
The "Cybrolator" - an elevator to you and me - takes you on a
comic jolt-of-a-journey to the third-floor Ventureport, the start
of your adventure. The Cybrolator is almost a ride itself.
The Ventureport is the entrance to DisneyQuest. Its huge vaulted
ceiling and armillary sphere -- an old astronomical instrument
composed of rings showing the positions of important circles of
the celestial sphere -- point the way to DisneyQuests's zones:
The Score Zone, Explore Zone, Replay Zone and Create Zone
Zone Guide
The Score Zone features futuristic versions of typical virtual
reality games, where guests don VR headsets and take up arms against
all types of villainy or engage in more civil play. In what officials
call "a competition city," guests can become a pinball, in the
Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam. Players stand on giant discs in front
of a huge video screen. As the discs are inflated, players find
their corresponding ball on the screen and score points by using
their whole body to maneuver the disc, and thus the ball, into
various pinball hot spots. The Mighty Ducks goalie guards the
highest score spot. He's good, but not impenetrable.
Other Score Zone attractions include a four-person virtual reality
game where guests battle extraterrestrial intruders called Invasion!
An Alien Encounter and the fantasy VR challenge Ride the Comix.
In Ride the Comix, guests wear a virtual reality headset, sit
on a round "hover seat" and grab a laser sword. As you propel
yourself through a futuristic comic book world, effective use
of your sword makes mincemeat out of all sorts of cartoon rogues.
Alien Encounter puts four players on a journey to save interplanetary
colonists from outer space bad guys. One player drives and the
other three are gunners, shooting aliens as the craft picks up
colonists. The 360-degree adventure sets you right in the middle
of all the action.
The Explore Zone is a land of pure Disney fantasy. Visitors run,
jump, explore and play their way through huge sets from Disney's
adventurous films. The Tiger's Head from "Aladdin's" Cave of Wonders
leads the way into the land of the Virtual Jungle Cruise, a combination
flume/raft/video ride that takes you from the primordial jungles
of pre-historic times to the 21st Century. Guests work with Wayne
Zalinsky from "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" on his latest invention
- a time machine. A huge raft, complete with sensored oars, allows
rafters to feel every twist and turn as they paddle your way through
the jungles of time. All of the action is played out on a huge
video screen before you.
A maze of caverns lies beneath the floor the Explore Zone, and
it's your job to search the subterranean grottoes for fortune
in Treasures of the Ancient Incas. Players use remote-controlled
jeeps to survey the caverns. Cameras perched on top of the jeep
show your way. When you find the hidden treasure, your jeep can
run into the grotto, grab the treasure and it appears on your
screen.
Characters from Disney's animated film "Hercules" also inhabit
the Explore Zone. Hercules in the Underworld is 4-player, 3-D
adventure where guests can choose to be either Hercules, Meg,
Pegasus or Phil. As the characters, players run through the underworld
picking up lightning bolts and searching for Pain and Panic (Hades'
henchmen) who have hidden a cart filled with lightning bolts.
Once you've collected all the lightning bolts and found the cart,
the characters race toward Hades' lair. Pegasus drives the cart
as the other characters try to destroy Hades with the bolts.
Explore Zone also offers Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, a virtual
reality ride through the Cave of Wonders. Wearing virtual reality
headsets, competitors climb aboard motorcycle-like vehicles to
begin their journey. Players become Abu, the monkey, and are charged
with traversing the cave on Aladdin's flying carpet to find the
Genie of the Lamp. Players compete against each other and the
clock to see who can find the Genie first; but beware, the evil
Jafar has laid traps throughout the caverns.
Guests of the Replay Zone are treated to a futuristic midway
of games of skill. Fans of the movie "Toy Story" can play Buzz
Lightyear's Astro Blaster, two-seated, bubble-topped bumper cars,
equipped with cannons on their hoods. While one player bumps the
other cars, the other blasts opponents with foam balls. A direct
hit puts your adversaries into an out-of-control tailspin. Guests
can also enjoy traditional midway-type games with classical Disney-character
themes such as Whack An Alien and Dumbo's Water Race.
Replay Zone also offers a wide array of traditional video games
from old-time favorites like "Zaxxon," "Dig Dug," "Centipede"
and "Tron" to the newest arcade hits like "Street Fighter," "Top
Skater" and "Daytona USA."
The Create Zone is a private Imagineering studio where guests
can live out their greatest artistic flights of fancy. Bill Nye,
"The Coaster Guy," helps Quest-goers create their own roller coaster
on the premier attraction of the Zone, Cyberspace Mountain. First,
you pick from one of four different environments you want to coast
through. Adding your coaster features comes next. You can choose
from real coaster specialties, like vertical loops, corkscrews
and spirals, or get really creative with otherworldly options
like jumping from track-to-track or leaping through hyperspace.
(You get 10,000 feet of track to play with.) Once you've got your
coaster designed, you can rate it on a "thrill scale" of 1-10.
Finally, you enter a VR simulator that lets you ride the very
coaster you've created.
The Create Zone also provides numerous outlets for traditional
artistic creativity, with a futuristic spin. You can paint, draw,
construct and sculpt with high-tech instruments, plus learn take
advantage of artistic and animation techniques provided by Disney
artisans. Sid's Create-a-Toy allows kids to jump into the movie
"Toy Story" by grabbing pieces of broken toys and combining them
to make "super toys."
Future Picassos, Da Vincis and Van Goghs can let their burgeoning
artistic talent flourish through the Living Easels, video canvases
where kids combine backgrounds, colors and characters to create
a masterpiece. The Magic Mirror also allows kids to put themselves
into their art, adding their photos to different backgrounds and
manipulating it in a variety of ways.
As an added bonus, Create Zone offers mini art classes with Disney
artisans in the Animation Academy. Animation 101 teaches Quest-goers
to draw their favorite Disney characters; while in Animation 202,
you delve further into the creative arts.
Many Disney-created rides and games have been designed to extend
your experience after you leave the building. If you create that
perfect gadget with Sid's Create-a-Toy, you can actually purchase
the toys you design. Pictures and paintings produced with the
Living Easels and Magic Mirror can also be printed out, bought
and taken home.
As your adventure comes to an end, visitors exit the building
through DisneyQuest's main gift shop, The DisneyQuest Emporium.
The shop showcases hundreds of T-shirts, mugs and pins featuring
the DisneyQuest logo and items from your favorite games. It can
be accessed without going into the complex and is already open
to the public.
Amenities
The California-based Cheesecake Factory is providing all the
food for DisneyQuest. The Cheesecake Factory's Express concept
will create two dining opportunities for Quest guests: The Wonderland
Café and FoodQuest.
"The Wonderland Café" will be a cross between an old-time soda
fountain/sweets shop and a coffeehouse of the future. Coffees,
teas, pastries, smoothies, cakes, ice cream and - of course -
a myriad of varieties of cheesecake will be the order of the day.
With a decor straight out of the Mad Tea Party, The Cafe will
also feature sandwiches for heartier appetites. While they eat,
guests can surf the Internet and explore a specially created Intranet
full of chat, message boards and other opportunities to interact
with others.
FoodQuest has a food court atmosphere with more substantial fare
than the Wonderland Café. Cheesecake Factory delights such as
Sliders; Chicken Littles; Tex-Mex, Crispy Vegetable and Avacado
Egg Rolls; and the Factory's famous french fries, are featured
on the menu. FoodQuest also features salads, hot and cold sandwiches,
soups, pastas and rotisserie chicken. The Cheesecake Factory Express
will also provide a catering service through DisneyQuest.
Overall
DisneyQuest is poised to be one of the most successful franchises
in Disney history. Mixing favorite Disney characters with interactive
virtual reality was an idea of mammoth proportions; and the execution
is even better than any expectations.
Disney's claims on being "The Ultimate Interactive Adventure"
are more than justified. Adept game players and novices alike
will find something to whet their appetites. Kids will want to
play the VR games over and over; and parents will love the imagination-spurring
magic of Create Zone.
The Disney-Imagineered rides are sure to become crowd favorites.
Cyberspace Mountain packs all the thrill of a great coaster, minus
the "death factor." It's great for coaster enthusiasts and those
who tend to be a bit squeamish. Multi-player games such as Mighty
Ducks Pinball Slam and Alien Encounter provide fun for the whole
family or a bunch of friends. The Virtual Jungle Cruise takes
a little practice. Don't be discouraged if you can't get the hang
of it on your first cruise.
Unlike traditional video games where you get a certain number
of plays and then it's over, Disney has designed its games to
last from three-and-a-half to five minutes. This provides a more-level
playing field - video game neophytes and masters the same have
the same time with each game. It also ensures that you really
get your money's worth.
This popularity of the attraction may be one of the biggest hindrances
to DisneyQuest's success. Thousands of people - tourists and locals
alike - flock to Downtown Disney every day. Officials say "the
DisneyQuest experience" is designed to last 2-3 hours for each
guest. Disney is limiting capacity for the building to 1,000 people.
You do the math. Disney Regional Entertainment officials say that
capacity may be increased as the attraction grows.
For more information, call 407-828-4600.
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