Disney Quest, Florida May 2011 report:-

[paulcan69]

Hello people,

Hope you are all well!

We've just got back from a mad 2 weeks in Florida today, four of us went (Me the Mrs and a couple of good friends) had a great laugh, myself and my better half are "coaster heads" so we spent the entire 2 weeks doing every single decent roller coaster in all of Florida

Man they have good coasters, sod Thorpe Park and Alton Towers after seeing what the states has to offer, always have to go one better don't they!

But I had to visit this place, located in Downtown Disney (near Magic Kingdom) is "Disney Quest" people have done reviews on it before...but here's an up to date version with pics, description and videos.

I feel it's my duty as I haven't posted much lately, anyway this is 5 floors of interactive and virtual madness, including rides + arcades all on freeplay.

(Notice no windows to the building, great idea!)

Normally $42 dollars to get in, but as we had a 14 day unlimited flexi ticket for Disney this let us in for free, and in and out as many times as we liked.

The dude on the door did say after 7pm they reduce it to $22. (Usually)

It's open till 10pm.

Floors 1,2,4 have new arcade games and various large but indoor rides, the floors you guys will care about are 3 and 5, these house many classic dedicated arcade games that we all know and love all under one roof and on freeplay, I could have lived in there, the last day of our holiday after we got kicked out of our pad, and as we waited for our flight home, we did live in there.

Line up:- (of the stuff you lot would care about)

Virtua Tennis

Star Wars Trilogy

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

Soul Calibur 3

Robotron

Galaxian x2

Galaga x2

Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario Bros. (combined cab)

Mr Do!

Arkanoid

Spy Hunter

Marble Madness

Ms. Pacman

Point Blank 2

NBA Jam

Super Pacman

Moon Patrol

Space Invaders and Qix (combined cab)

Donkey Kong Jr.

Asteroids Deluxe

Mario Bros. (original not "super")

Frontline

Donkey Kong x2

Jungle Hunt

Elevator Action

Burgertime

Pengo

Phoenix

Zaxxon

Karate Champ (Player vs. Player)

Kangaroo

Millipede

Centipede

Asteroids x2

Q*bert x2

Frogger x2

Ms. Pacman/Galaga 20 year anniversary cab (class of 81) x3

Dig Dug x2

Joust x2

Pacman x2

Gorf

Missle Command

Tron x2

Discs of Tron (upright not EDOT)

"Mame" machines x4 (2x Global Arcade, 2x Ultracade)

Code 1 Dispatch (Konami - a bit newer I think.... I've never heard of it...?)

2x Virtua Pin (pinball tables that are 2x lcd screens)

Iron Man Pinball

C.S.I Pinball

Spiderman Pinball

Rolling Stones Pinball

Batman Pinball (newest Batman movie)

Pirates of the Carribean Pinball

The machines which could not be set to freeplay via a dip switch or menu option had a credit button on the coin door.

No side art on some of the common cabs was a shame, + a copy marquee for one of the two Donkey Kong machines was also a bit "pikey"

One of the Asteroids machines had one of it's buttons replaced with a modern microswitch button which sucked and almost put you off playing it, until I found the other Asteroids machine on the 3rd floor.

Generally all in good nick considering they were getting hammered all day, and it was nice to see it busy in there and them being used, in my vids although it doesn't look like many people were around, that's because I picked a more quiet time to come back and get video as it was rammed the first night I was in there.

The odd screen which needed adjusting, the odd Atari cone button with no flashing red light working, or the odd weak monitor or very slight fault, nothing major, in fact bravo to keeping that many working so well, and you know there are a few pigs in there.

I asked what happens about looking after them, a guy told me that at midnight a team of engineers go in and fix and mix it all up a bit so when the day staff get in, (in the morning) it can all be very different.

It was just nice to see all these classics under one roof again (and being used...) the only other places I can compare it to are Rav's Retrokade and the arcade barn.

I got well into pinball on my hols, thanks to the pins in Disney Quest and the Nascar pin in our hotel/apartment reception.

(May have to buy something soon to stop that itch)

It also (on the other floors) houses some good modern stuff too, Afterburner Climax etc... etc... you know all the better modern stuff and some right new crap.

The 10 player Nascar was a good laugh and 10 people were always on it, the yanks love Nascar don't they?! You had to almost queue for that one. Although it felt like a "PC" game if you know what I mean, it is a "PC" game but what I mean is it didn't feel fast, beefy and fun like an arcade racer should. (Sigh - modern games

)

Also onsite was a design your own coaster ride which was quite good, make a mental track on a touchscreen with different sections of track, then you can ride your "home-made" track on a full 360 degree simulator.

Also Pirates of the Carribean 3d simulator was good, one of you steers whilst your mates fire different cannons to take out other ships and the floor moves/shakes etc...

I did hate the U.S level order of Donkey Kong, I much prefer the Jap rom version and/or Crazy Kong order which I consider to be the correct order (proper order

) maybe that's because that's the one I'm used to.

I loved Sega's new-ish Let's Go Jungle, that was a laugh, see brief video of that to show you what I mean, not us playing just some random person/people.

No Defender (Shock horror!) Which I think kinda sucked, mind you a lot of yanks hated that game, seemed to be more of a U.K thing.

They also had the world's largest Tetris video game which had a massive stick and giant button you could sit on to press.

(Although the screen didn't seem big enough for the size of the rest of the cab...?)

Well here's some pics and some videos enjoy....

Vids:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MKlVRSFXLU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEcXx-GQwx0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMTNL2T6FAE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvASqwHm9Jo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZRqE3oiiQw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K8B9_fscv0

Pics:-

(ABOVE:- My mate Steve (yellow shirt) giving Pacman some pain whilst drinking a typical USA "fat boy" coke)

Below some random guy who had a flash deflecting shield on his nice rucksack!?

paulcan692011-05-22 00:55:01

 

[guddler]

Someone else that thinks the same as me about Crazy Kong Vs. Donkey Kong!! CK FTW

That place looks awesome. Seems to have totally passed me by! Any idea when it opened? I was over there back in 1998 and either it wasn't there or I just had no idea whatsoever

I wouldn't have known what to do with myself quite frankly, although it would have presented a problem I think for my girlfriend of the time!

[EDIT] Just caught the Frontline in the video. Cool! Pretty sure I've never seen one of those in the flesh, and TBH, it's rare you can say that these days. I knew about it as I've got the debugging kit for that hardware and had been in touch with a guy that used to work in the place / with the bloke that did the game, but never seen one

guddler2011-05-22 01:18:21

 

[paulcan69]

I love my CK part II board, gets played constantly.

Yeah, it was hard to play just one game fully as you just wanted to go and try something else.

Our other halves were cool, as even they liked it in there + they could walk straight outside and have 40+ shops to go in, and Downtown Disney is lovely to have a drink + watch live music.

I thought that about frontline I had to double take that because I'd never even seen pics of one before let alone seen one. (Cool that you have a debug kit for it)

Got well into Jungle Hunt what a class little game that had passed me by for all these years!

And rekindled my love of Pengo, + nice to play Q*bert again with it's diagonal stick.

So many to choose from, forgot how to play Spy Hunter, and great to play Marble Madness again.

It was missing some common games from UK arcades which I would have liked in there too, but Christ you can't have everything!

I will return to Florida again even if to have a slightly more chilled out holiday, as we have done the main stuff now, ...I will go back there at some point.

I wanted to do the hover boat through the swamp trip which we didn't get time to do, and Gatorland!! Which I'm kinda sad we missed.

We had a 4.0 V6 truck which was soooo fun blasting around in the states in that.

$40 gave you almost 3/4's of a tank (about £25) which lasted ages of crusing at 90mph

Went to Clearwater (town) which had the nicest beach ever, looked like the good beaches you find in Mexico.

Here's some Disney Quest info:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisneyQuest

Attraction facts

• Location: Downtown Disney
• Opened: March 1, 1998
• Coordinates:
  
  28°22′13″N 81°31′20″W / 28.3703041°N 81.5221252°W / 28.3703041; -81.5221252
• Address: 1486 East Buena Vista Drive
• Phone Number: (407) 828-4600
• Fax Number: (407) 938-6202

Thanks for your interest!

 

[paulcan69]

It's strange as it says opened March 1st 1998 at the bottom of the wiki, as I pasted above...but at the top of the page it says this... Opened June 19th 1998 ????????

Maybe that's a usual Wiki style mistake and it means built in March and opened in June??

Opened	June 19, 1998

Opened	June 19, 1998

Opened	June 19, 1998

 

[PaulSwan]

Did you visit the King of Kong arcade in Orlando Airport as well?

Paul.

 

[Unit504]

woah look at that nascar!!! crazy!!! looks like a great line up of machine there!!!

 

[andyman]

Welcome back dude, glad you had fun.

No Defender (Shock horror!) Which I think kinda sucked, mind you a lot of yanks hated that game, seemed to be more of a U.K thing.

Not a *proper* arcade then, they only hate it cos they can't play it

Andy.

 

[guddler]

Sorry, I'm completely misleading you on the debug kit for Frontline. Wrong hardware entirely. Its for Qix and all the games that run on that hardware (zookeeper, Kram etc.).

Re when it opened, maybe they're referring to the general downtown Disney bit? That was certainly there in 1998. But I remember going and thinking it was just a bunch of shops. Maybe DQ was there and I just didn't realize what it was?

The wife would really like to go. Maybe we will one day but I can't stand flying these days, there always seems to be something else demanding the money and I'm the kind of person that once I've done something ive done it! Oh, that and she can't go on anything but the mild rides for health reasons so I kinda think what's the point??

Shed like the swamp trip though. That was good

Anyway, sounds like you had a blast

 

[paulcan69]

Did you visit the King of Kong arcade in Orlando Airport as well?

Paul.

Yes totally by accident, the donkey kong painting/graphics on the walls were so cool, I got pictures, however didn't have any old games or Donkey Kong in there?

I got some famous Billy Mitchell hot sauce, the guy behind the counter said it's ok you can take this small bottle as it's 3.0 fluid ounces and the limit is 3.5.

So I got it and the very first customs guy I meet said, "What's that? Hot sauce? No that's too big!! You can't take that!"

To which I said, "The guy in the shop said it's cool as it's under 3.5"

He then looked at it again and said "Oh, hang on....ok yeah he's right, you can take that!"

Then when I got to the x-ray part they told me to wait whilst they then ran tests on the said bottle of hot sauce (which I purchased from the very airport I was standing in, and it was still sealed)

Obviously it checked out ok and I now have some Billy Mitchell "King of Kong" hot sauce in the U.K

Got to give the US respect for tight security, shoes off before you get to customs, full x-ray of you and all the bags, they question you in and out about what you were doing and why, you should have seen the British security, it was pants, some old guy who didn't say a word and briefly looks at your passport, then you walk straight through no more checks or even anyone who checks your hand luggage

 

[paulcan69]

woah look at that nascar!!! crazy!!! looks like a great line up of machine there!!!

Nascar was funny with 10 people all in the same race at the same time, you can imagine how crazy it got with people side swipping each other at 220mph.

Was so good in there, I surprised myself and did like some of the new stuff which I thought I wouldn't!

 

[paulcan69]

Welcome back dude, glad you had fun.

No Defender (Shock horror!) Which I think kinda sucked, mind you a lot of yanks hated that game, seemed to be more of a U.K thing.

Not a *proper* arcade then, they only hate it cos they can't play it

Andy.

True, true dude, I was all set to have a go on Defender in there, and was shocked not to find it, need to visit your gaff for a go?

That's exactly what I heard, that they couldn't get on with all those buttons in 1980 it didn't spread through the states, but instead we loved it and there was almost one in every UK petrol station?

So Defender remains a UK game!

 

[paulcan69]

Sorry, I'm completely misleading you on the debug kit for Frontline. Wrong hardware entirely. Its for Qix and all the games that run on that hardware (zookeeper, Kram etc.).

Re when it opened, maybe they're referring to the general downtown Disney bit? That was certainly there in 1998. But I remember going and thinking it was just a bunch of shops. Maybe DQ was there and I just didn't realize what it was?

The wife would really like to go. Maybe we will one day but I can't stand flying these days, there always seems to be something else demanding the money and I'm the kind of person that once I've done something ive done it! Oh, that and she can't go on anything but the mild rides for health reasons so I kinda think what's the point??

Shed like the swamp trip though. That was good

Anyway, sounds like you had a blast

Ah see, oh well...I love Zookeeper as well, played that with Robogreg round one of Rav's meets, he was suprised how well I did on it for my first ever go, got right into that game would like a copy of it at some point. Nice thing to own, I would like to see these debug kits in use at some point and have someone explain how and why they work.

Re. Disney Quest opening:-

Must of been opened in 1998 at some time I guess, I wouldn't have known it was an arcade from quickly looking at it from the outside, it was more the fact that people have done arcade reports on it before, so I read up about it on the net before I went, and was wanting to visit it just for the classic machines section/s.

Dude I'm exactally the same with flying, loved it as a kid and a teenager, but now these days I don't mind the idea of it, and the take off and the landing, but turbulence scares the sh*t out of me, that feeling of a giant heavy a*s plane (747) almost falling out of the sky just does me in!!

I sit there with clenched fists wanting to punch things everytime it does it, it makes me angry that it scares me like it does, my heart almost has an attack everytime we hit air pockets, maybe I'm a bit of a control freak and I don't like the fact that I'm not in control of scaring myself?

I could ride a motorbike at 200mph in the rain, or drive a lambo flat out, I could jump from a great height, climb a tall tree/building or abseil down one, go on any ride designed to scare you all fine, all good...but the second I think I will fail thousands of feet to my death caused by somebody else I get scared and angry!!

Thanks man!
paulcan692011-05-22 14:33:11

 

[paulcan69]

Next time I go on a plane I'm taking Valium or something so I don't give a sh*t!

I kept drinking vodka to try to forget about it, it helped a bit.

 

[P-Man]

I went to Disney Quest in about 2004 or 2005, i do have some photos somewhere i think, can't lay my hands on it right now. AFAIK the classic section of the arcade was only added in 2003/4 i think. Could be wrong.

I also went to Downtown Disney one night and just crawled from club to club with some other arcade collectors. I don't know what happens there in the daytime, but at night its club after club all themed and full of revolving dancefloors, lightshows etc.. absolutley nuts when you are completely wasted. Going to the waterpark the next morning was a monumental struggle and i had to re-decorate a mcdonalds restroom on drive over.

 

[P-Man]

Dude I'm exactally the same with flying, loved it as a kid and a teenager, but now these days I don't mind the idea of it, and the take off and the landing, but turbulence scares the sh*t out of me, that feeling of a giant heavy a*s plane (747) almost falling out of the sky just does me in!!

I sit there with clenched fists wanting to punch things everytime it does it, it makes me angry that it scares me like it does, my heart almost has an attack everytime we hit air pockets, maybe I'm a bit of a control freak and I don't like the fact that I'm not in control of scaring myself?

I could ride a motorbike at 200mph in the rain, or drive a lambo flat out, I could jump from a great height, climb a tall tree/building or abseil down one, go on any ride designed to scare you all fine, all good...but the second I think I will fail thousands of feet to my death caused by somebody else I get scared and angry!!

Thanks man!

I don't know what all the fuss is about, i just move my motorised seat into the nearly-flat position, stretch my feet out (which don't reach the end of the bed) and tuck myself up with the duvet and pillow and either sleep or watch movies or sup champagne, or all three.

 

[paulcan69]

Yeah but you can afford 1st class, or your lucky enough to have someone pay for a 1st class ticket for you!

Lucky sod!

 

[paulcan69]

Would love to see your pics if you find them, see whats changed.

 

[lucinius]

What a place. Thanks for the pics. Am taking kids there in August so will make a point of droping by (w/o missus).

 

[trm]

Hi lucinius. Welcome to UKVAC! Hope you like it here

cheers

tim

 

[karlcdoe]

[EDIT] Just caught the Frontline in the video. Cool! Pretty sure I've never seen one of those in the flesh, and TBH, it's rare you can say that these days. [/QUOTE]

My mate had a frontline cab, possibly a UK version but seemed tatel in style and judging by the edge connector, cabaret style and it looked nothing like that. I suspect these days the UK licenced versions of games are even rarer than the US, eg Taitel Mad Planets, Gyruss and the iffy Atari Dragons Lair.

Anyhow, within a week of buying it he had hacked the top off it to 'save space' and cut a very large hole in the side so he could use it as a shelf to store his (then) VHS recorder. After he moved he gave me the power supply and a couple of bits, turned out he dumped it.