Disney Quest

[JONTHEBOMB]

Last week I was down in sunny Florida enjoying spring break .  I went to Disney World, Universal and some other parks riding coasters and having fun.  One night I went to Downtown Disney to eat something then I headed towards Disney Quest.  I had heard Disney Quest had games and I expected Disney games where you had to make a monster disappear with light or something of that sort.  To my suprise, when those elevator doors opened I saw real arcade games.  All the games are on free play.  Immediately I went on an exploration expedition to see what they had.  I found they had four floors filled with games. Most of the games are current or are from the 90's and they are separated into sections like racers, fighters, etc.  There are four pinball machines I saw when I was there.  In a small discrete corner I found about twelve 80's arcade machines.  The twelve machines are:
-Donkey Kong
-Donkey Kong Jr.
-Mr. Do
-Defender
-Dig Dug (unfortunately the joystick was semi-broken)
-Arkanoid
-Dragon's Lair
-Lunar Lander (couldn't figure out this game I kept on crashing)
-Mario Brothers
-Galaxian (my favorite out of all of these)
-Galaga
-Q*bert
This discovery made my vacation the best one ever.  So for you guys or girls that have kids that are begging to go to Disney World, now you have a good reason to go.  If you get a ticket that can get you into the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM and The Animal Kingdom.  Then you can use that ticket to get into Disney Quest for free.  Otherwise without a ticket it costs 30 bucks to get in.

Has anyone heard of an arcade that has all the machines on free play and you pay a fee to get in for unlimited play?
 
I think this maybe the way to raise arcades from the dead.
Edit: Removed an extra word.

[RayB]

Has anyone heard of an arcade that has all the machines on free play and you pay a fee to get in for unlimited play?

Yes. "Playdium" in downtown Toronto (formerly owned by Sega) tried that model in a last-ditch effort to stave off bankruptcy, but it didn't work. (This was like 4-5 years ago).

[saint]

Disney Quest is da bomb.  5 floors - you could spend all day there.

Last week I was down in sunny Florida enjoying spring break .  I went to Disney World, Universal and some other parks riding coasters and having fun.  One night I went to Downtown Disney to eat something then I headed towards Disney Quest.  I had heard Disney Quest had games and I expected Disney games where you had to make a monster disappear with light or something of that sort.  To my suprise, when those elevator doors opened I saw real arcade games.  All the games are on free play.  Immediately I went on an exploration expedition to see what they had.  I found they had four floors filled with games. Most of the games are current or are from the 90's and they are separated into sections like racers, fighters, etc.  There are four pinball machines I saw when I was there.  In a small discrete corner I found about twelve 80's arcade machines.  The ones I can remember are:
-Donkey Kong
-Donkey Kong Jr.
-Mr. Do
-Defender
-Dig Dug (unfortunately the joystick was semi-broken)
-Arkanoid
-Dragon's Lair
-Lunar Lander (couldn't figure out this game I kept on crashing)
-Mario Brothers
-Galaxian (my favorite out of all of these)
-Galaga
This discovery made my vacation the best one ever.  So for you guys or girls that have kids that are begging to go to Disney World, now you have a good reason to go.  If you get a ticket that can get you into the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM and The Animal Kingdom.  Then you can use that ticket to get into Disney Quest for free.  Otherwise without a ticket it costs 30 bucks to get in.

Has anyone heard of an arcade that has all the machines on free play and you pay a fee to get in for unlimited play?
 
I think this maybe the way to raise arcades from the dead.
Edit: Removed an extra word.

[Dartful Dodger]

We use to take our company's annual outing to the one in Chicago.  It was great, no one else was there so there was never any wait for anything.

That's probably why it closed down.

[romperwomb]

Ha, I recalled hearing about one of these supposed to be going to Philly...  I guess it never happened, and the locals call the empty lot that was porkbarreled into the location the "Disneyhole". 

Check it:

http://www.disneyhole.org

[DeLong20]

We have one here in Springfield, MO called 1984.  It is an 80's themed arcade with 99.9% 80's era games.  $5.00 all you can play!!!!

[thebrownshow]

Ha, I recalled hearing about one of these supposed to be going to Philly...  I guess it never happened, and the locals call the empty lot that was porkbarreled into the location the "Disneyhole". 

Check it:

http://www.disneyhole.org

Always wondered what that hole was supposed to be.  Thanks. 
Though I think the content of that site should be under the Politics and Religion section, with all the anti-capitalism crap in it.

[nullb0y]

wow i usually go throgh 50 bucks in quarters at the arcade in about a couple hours free play omfg man...

[JONTHEBOMB]

We have one here in Springfield, MO called 1984.  It is an 80's themed arcade with 99.9% 80's era games.  $5.00 all you can play!!!!

That's an excellent deal and Springfield isn't to bad of a drive.  I was thinking about this topic more today and came up with another system.  I think it would be neat if arcades offered a time card system. 
A year pass for unlimited play $100
A six month pass $60
A two month pass $31
A week pass $20
A day pass $5

Can you tell I really want arcades to come back.  Five years ago in Rochester we had three arcades and now we have none.

[thebrownshow]

I think we all want them to come back, but I think the business model just isn't there.  The only ones that seem to be successful are the Dave & Buster's type restraunts/bars, and I can assure you that their primary source of revenue is NOT the games.

[DeLong20]

At 1984 they do have a "pass" type thing.  They call it a 2010 card.  You get 10 admissions for $20.  For those who didn't pass the third grade, thats $2 an entry!

[Daniel270]

I've been to Springfield a couple times since I moved here... but haven't been to 1984 yet...  it'd have to be on a day I don't have anything else planned because I'd sure spend the whole day there 

[quarterback]

We have one here in Springfield, MO called 1984.  It is an 80's themed arcade with 99.9% 80's era games.  $5.00 all you can play!!!!

For those reading this thread who were previously unaware of "1984", there's an entire multi-page thread about them in Arcade Misc:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=42319.0

[xar256]

We have a place like that in Winnipeg.  It's called Magicland.  I haven't been there in years, but it's been running for at least 15 years on that model.  It used to be like $5/hour and everything was free play.  It had a lot of working and popular games back then...I should stop in again soon, and see what's changed.

Xar256

[chairhome]

Tron is also there, and Discs of Tron.  Some are on different floors.  That place was fantastic when it first opened, they also had those picture booths on "free", and everyone would spend their time there... then they started charging.   That place is fun though, free play is wonderful.

[markb]

I was over there last year and had to be practically dragged out of there by my wife.

[JONTHEBOMB]

Tron is also there, and Discs of Tron.  Some are on different floors.  That place was fantastic when it first opened, they also had those picture booths on "free", and everyone would spend their time there... then they started charging.   That place is fun though, free play is wonderful.

Some how I missed a boat load of games .  Apparently some great classics are hidden in other places.
Arcadefever sent me a link to pictures when he was there.

Here is the link:
http://www.arcadefever.net/DISNEYQUEST/DISNEYQUEST.html

[Todd H]

I was there the week of 4-3 through 4-7.  I was so looking forward to playing some of the classics at Disney Quest.  When I did find them (on the very top floor) I was both excited and disappointed.

Many of the games looked as if the monitors needed a cap kit.  Some of the games exibited strange behavior as well, seemingly craching at certain moments.  But the worst offense was that both the Joust and Pac-Man machines had their joysticks replaced with generic 8-ways.  Pac-Man was unplayable.  Joust was playable, but lost a lot of its feel.

Seeing classics in such shape maddened me more than anything.  Don't get me wrong though.  The ones that worked were fun to play.  But when the joystick to Tron doesn't even center any longer, a lot of the fun is lost.  And having no Galaga machine was the last straw.

Hopefully Disney will correct these problems so that a lot of us older gamers can enjoy these classics as they were meant to be played.

[JONTHEBOMB]

Seeing classics in such shape maddened me more than anything.  Don't get me wrong though.  The ones that worked were fun to play.  But when the joystick to Tron doesn't even center any longer, a lot of the fun is lost.

Some of the cabinets are in tough shape because the people don't respect them.  When I was playing Galaxian a kid came up to the Mario Brothers machine next to me and just started pulling on the joystick with all his might.  Then he hammered on the button a few times and left.

And having no Galaga machine was the last straw.

There is a Galaga machine right next to the Galaxian machine on the 3rd floor (I think) in a room with the other games I listed earlier.

[SithMaster]

A lot of the stories everyone has about arcades lost remind me of the one that was shut down becuase nathan's and a pizzaria wanted to open up shop in that location.  the arcade was torn down (dont know what happened to the games) and then 4 months later their coming soon sign was removed and now its just a lot.

They should start advertsing their arcade.  They will have more visits then ever before.

[ArcadeNoob]

Im in Florida, theres a local little arcade thats $10 fee for all day.  Many times you go in, you are the only one there.  They have Neo Geo, multiple Ms Pac's(including a sitdown haha), Tron, Rygar, X Men, Battletoads, Mortal Kombat, Viper, Air hockey, Asteroids, Galaga, NBA Jam, and many others I cant remember off the top of my head.